Serving the High Plains

28 new COVID-19 cases reported in county last week

Quay County saw another spike of COVID-19 cases last week with 28, after a month of low numbers.

One week in early June, the county saw a one-week spike of 43 cases. Save for that one outlier, Quay County’s case numbers had remained at 10 or fewer per week.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the county since the pandemic began in spring 2020 rose to 2,128.

The breakdown of total COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 1,641 in Tucumcari, 298 in Logan, 98 in San Jon, 35 in House, 22 in McAlister, 18 in Bard and 14 in Nara Visa.

All the new cases last week were in Tucumcari, Logan or San Jon.

No confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Quay County were reported last week. The county’s death toll from the virus remained at 58 since the pandemic began more than two years ago. A total of 50 coronavirus deaths have occurred in the county in a little more than a year.

The state’s Environment Department reported these rapid responses for COVID-19 employee infections at these entities last week:

• Mesalands Community College, one case reported July 5.

A total of 1,247 new cases of coronavirus were reported Friday in New Mexico. That raised the total since the pandemic began to more than 570,000.

New Mexico’s seven-day daily case rate fell moderately to 824 by Friday, another sign the spread of the disease was declining slowly. The rate was 917 the previous week.

A total of 168 people were hospitalized in New Mexico with the disease Friday, a decline of 13 from the previous week.

Three COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state Friday, raising the total to 7,963. The daily death rate has been slowly falling for weeks.

In the Amarillo metro region, the total number of active cases continued to climb on Friday. The number rose from 1,440 to 1,667 in one week.

The disease has killed 1,281 people in the Amarillo metro since the pandemic began.

In the U.S., more than 88.5 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic began, with more than 1.02 million deaths, through Saturday.

New Mexico residents can schedule vaccinations for themselves or their children through the state’s registration portal at VaccineNM.org. The New Mexico Department of Health’s vaccination helpline is available at 855-600-3453, option 3.

The state Department of Health also recommends COVID-19 drugs for those who have contracted the disease in its early stages and are at high risk for serious illness. These drugs are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death but must be taken within days of the first symptom. More information on finding these treatments can be found at FindATreatmentNM.com.