COVID-19 infections increasing in NM

New Mexico's COVID-19 fortunes — which seemed so promising only a few weeks ago — are beginning to darken, state health officials said Wednesday.

Just as health care experts and hospital leaders exhaled in relief in July with a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases, an official with the state Department of Health said New Mexico is now following a national trend of increasing infections.

"The trends will be the same with cases rising and hospitalizations ticking up slowly as well," Health Department spokesman David Barre wrote in an email. "Essentially, we are seeing the same thing in New Mexico that the rest of the country is observing in regard to COVID-19."

State health officials reported 1,204 new COVID-19 cases since Aug. 1, with 550 from Aug. 4 through Aug. 10, the last date for which figures are available. The weekly figure is nearly double the amount of cases reported at the end of July, when health officials declared the worst of the virus to be over.

Thirty-four patients were admitted to state hospitals during the same week, according to health department reports.

Of the total number of new state cases during the same week, 114 were pediatric.

Numbers provided by the Department of Health do not include positive test results from home testing kits. Only labs are required to report positive cases to the agency, Barre said.

The state alone has distributed more than 2 million home testing kits since February 2022. Nationally, 755 million tests have been around the country, including New Mexico.

With cases rising, medical officials are wary about the coming months.

"We do anticipate significant illness from Influenza, RSV, and COVID this winter so vaccination this fall will be critical to keeping our communities safe," Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medical and clinical transformation officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, wrote in an email.

The rise in cases comes at a particularly inopportune time: school has begun throughout New Mexico.

Officials with the Santa Fe Public Schools monitor weekly COVID-19 reports released by state health officials, said district spokesman Cody Dynarski, who added officials are preparing for the upcoming flu, RSV and COVID-19 season by offering students and staff vaccinations and boosters at all school sites.

School officials also are educating school staff on current guidance for managing employees and students who are symptomatic, he said.

People who are higher risk, including those who are immunocompromised, may want to consider masking or avoiding crowded places if numbers continue to increase, he added.