San Juan County's COVID cases fall 27.9%; New Mexico cases holding steady

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK

FARMINGTON — New Mexico reported 1,702 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, from 1,750 the week before of the virus that causes COVID-19.

New Mexico ranked 44th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

San Juan County reported 88 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 122 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 47,142 cases and 824 deaths.

A total of 615,598 people in New Mexico have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 8,515 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 95,658,236 people have tested positive and 1,053,419 people have died.

Within New Mexico, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in McKinley County with 170 cases per 100,000 per week; Valencia County with 147; and Torrance County with 142. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Bernalillo County, with 570 cases; Sandoval County, with 126 cases; and McKinley County, with 121. Weekly case counts rose in 15 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Valencia, McKinley and Bernalillo counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Across New Mexico, cases fell in 17 counties, with the best declines in Doña Ana County, with 84 cases from 141 a week earlier; in San Juan County, with 88 cases from 122; and in Eddy County, with 20 cases from 53. ​

In New Mexico, 32 ​ people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 14 people were reported dead.

In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 7.7% from the week before, with 436,694 cases reported. With 0.63% of the country's population, New Mexico had 0.39% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

New Mexico's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 18. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 153
  • The week before that: 194
  • Four weeks ago: 324

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 57,618
  • The week before that: 58,248
  • Four weeks ago: 66,210

Hospitals in 15 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 14 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 22 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.