Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Curry County has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases over the last week, and the county's sixth virus-related death was reported on Saturday.
The greatest concern could be at the Curry County Detention Center, where officials on Tuesday announced 10 positive cases had been confirmed among inmates.
Through Tuesday the county overall recorded 75 new covid cases over the last eight days, an average of 9.4 per day. The county averaged 3.2 new cases per day the first three weeks of September.
Reasons for the spike are not clear.
"The only thing I can think of is we're catching up from the Labor Day weekend - family and mass gatherings, that type of thing," said Dan Heerding, Clovis' emergency management coordinator.
"But honestly I don't know. It's perplexing."
The latest local death attributed to the virus was a man in his 80s who was hospitalized, health officials said.
The county jail outbreak was discovered Monday.
County Manager Lance Pyle said inmates were tested on Friday. Two tests returned positive on Monday night and eight more returned positive on Tuesday morning.
"They were part of a random weekly sample of testing and were all housed in the same pod," Pyle wrote in a text message.
He said 13 other inmates tested negative, while six tests were pending early Tuesday afternoon.
Pyle said two inmates who tested positive were released from the facility prior to receiving results. Officials were attempting to notify them on Tuesday.
Also this week the Curry Resident Senior Meals Association announced it will discontinue service until further notice after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
CRSMA has served grab-and-go meals from its location at the Friendship Senior Center since the pandemic began. A release from Director Ashley White notes the employee did not have interactions with the public, but the decision to shut down the service was made as a precaution.
A bridge meal was offered Tuesday at the Clovis-Carver Public Library parking lot when a local restaurant provided free grab-and-go meals and the city blended the event into a U.S. Census information session.
Clovis' Senior Services Department is working on interim solutions, including delivery of frozen meals to homebound seniors. Senior Services can be reached at 575-769-7908.
Also in Clovis, the district attorney's office reported an employee tested positive Monday for COVID-19.
DA Andrea Reeb said the employee had flu-like symptoms early last week and was tested for covid and the flu, but both tests were negative. He continued to work, but intentionally avoided close contact with others because of what he thought was a cold, she said. When symptoms persisted, he tested again and received a positive test on Monday.
He is now quarantining at home and is feeling "pretty sick," with nausea, a sore throat, chills and a cough.
Reeb said none of her other staff has reported feeling ill and none are quarantined.
Also, Retirement Ranch in Clovis sent an email to families Monday indicating two employees had confirmed COVID-19 cases. The email did not include other information about the cases, but noted employees are screened prior to their shifts for respiratory symptoms.
The virus also seems to be making a comeback across New Mexico.
The state announced 143 new cases on Monday and 153 on Sunday, following three consecutive days of new case counts over 200. The seven-day rolling average for the state, as of Monday, was at 188.6 new cases per day - above the 168 sought to meet the state's benchmark.
Roosevelt County is bucking the trend of spiraling cases. It has just 15 new cases in the last 10 days - an improvement from a four-day period where the county saw 25 positive tests reported.
Through Tuesday, Roosevelt County has had 81 positive tests, an average of 2.7 daily cases.
In its daily updates, the Department of Health includes a list of long-term care facilities that have had a positive staff or resident COVID-19 test. Wheatfields Senior Living was removed from that list last week.