Curry, Roosevelt remain in red status

SANTA FE — A total of six counties — neither Curry nor Roosevelt — reached the “yellow” designation Wednesday for COVID-19 infection rates under the state’s Red to Green reopening plan.

Out of New Mexico’s 33 counties, 25 remain in the red designation. But state metrics indicate all but two counties have seen improvements on daily cases and test positivity rates.

Since Nov. 30, the state has given a color-coded designation based on the preceding two weeks of data and whether it reaches benchmarks of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity at or below 5%. Green counties meet both criteria, yellow counties meet one and red counties meet neither. Data was collected Jan. 12 through Monday.

Counties that moved into the yellow designation immediately saw their restriction on mass gatherings ease from five people and 10 vehicles to 10 people and 25 vehicles. Also, indoor dining is allowed at 25% capacity and outdoor dining is allowed at 75% capacity.

Curry County remained in the red, with 41.8 daily cases per 100,000 and test positivity of 9.9%. That is, however, an improvement from Jan. 13 results of 61.4 daily cases and 15.11% test positivity.

Roosevelt County nearly halved both of its metrics from Jan. 13. Roosevelt is as 32.7 daily cases per 100,000 and test positivity of 8.46%, compared to 62.4 and 19.27% two weeks prior.

Harding County, with no cases, remained in the green zone for the second-straight two-week period. Union County remained in the yellow, and was joined by Colfax, Grants, Los Alamos, San Miguel, Sierra and Socorro counties. All seven yellow counties reached the metric via test positivity.

Of the 25 counties above 5% test positivity, 16 of them are between 5.08% (Mora) and the 9.9% for Curry.

The next update will be posted by the state Feb. 10.