FARMINGTON – Although COVID-19 mortality rates have declined in San Juan and McKinley counties in recent months, the northwest corner of New Mexico remains the most affected domain in the state as the pandemic continues in its seventh month.
According to September 30 figures published on the Department of Health website, St. John’s County and McKinley County appear to have COVID mortality rates and the percentage of the population that tested positive for COVID in the state, far exceeding its percentage of the state’s population.
With 5. 9% of the state’s population, San Juan County recorded 11. 4% of the state’s instances and nearly 23% of its deaths. McKinley County has 3. 4% of the state’s population, yet has recorded approximately 15% of state instances and 29. 3% of their deaths.
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Together, the two counties accounted for more than part of COVID’s deaths in New Mexico and a quarter of their cases; account for just over 9% of the state’s population.
Despite this disproportionate impact, state and county fitness officials hesitate to point out an explanation from singles why the two counties have been so vulnerable to the virus.
“There is no basic cause for accumulation in cases in those express counties,” New Mexico Department of Health spokesman David Morgan said in an email in response to a series of Daily Times questions. “For example, some counties see construction after anything from a baptism to a funeral. The arguments for a building in those counties are, in contact surveys, proving similar to the lack of COVID protection practices designed for transmission, such as masking, social estating, common hand washing. “
Janine Emery, the supervising nurse at the San Juan County Office of Public Health, reiterated Morgan’s statement and said that the points, by adding meetings where others do not practice social estating and refusal to wear a mask, probably contributed to those maximum numbers.
Officials at the San Juan Regional Medical Center refused to discuss the reasons for THE COVID-19 figures in both counties.
The virus has not had as much effect in other parts of the state, even those that are much more densely populated than San Juan or McKinley counties.
For example, Bernalillo County, which comprises nearly a third of the state’s citizens, recorded a small 22. 4% of its cases and 20. 2% of its deaths, while Doa Ana County, with 10. 4% of the state’s population recorded New Mexico instances and only 6. 3% of their deaths, and Santa Fe County, with 7. 2% of the state’s population, was the most productive of all, with 3. 5% of the total number of instances and 0. 7% of deaths.
<< This is a mixture of maximum early transmission rates in San Juan and McKinley counties and underlying non-public (e. g. pre-existing fitness) and environmental (access to social and physical health services) situations that increase the threat of serious illness, Morgan says in his email.
St. John’s County and McKinley County saw the pandemic come at a high price in its early months, and Gallup’s dominance was located in a national COVID-19 hot spot. Since then, transmission of the virus in any of the counties has slowed down and in other parts of the country. have begun to catch up, the metropolitan domain of Albuquerque.
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Still, St. John’s and McKinley counties remain the leaders in the mortality rate and percentage of the population who took the COVID-19 test.
“What you’re in are cumulative instances of the population,” Morgan says in reaction to those figures. “These rates will continue to increase as the number of instances increases, but as long as the number of new instances continues to decrease than in other parts of the state, rates in other counties will begin to catch up. “
He advised that those wishing to have a different opinion on the factor should consult the Department of Health’s average daily 14-day case rate, which reflects how the virus has spread to other parts of the state for the next two weeks. is available in cvprovider. nmhealth. org/public-dashboard. html.
These figures show that the virus is spreading much faster in the southern component of the state than in the northwest corner. For the era of September 15-28, the positivity rate in St. John’s County is 3. 1% and the McKinley County rate is 2. 4%.
In total, nine counties in southern New Mexico had a much higher positivity rate, adding Chaves County with 6. 7%, Lea County with 8. 8%, and Eddy County at 11. 6%.
Emery said she was not sure it was appropriate to speculate on whether the cumulative figures from St. John’s and McKinley counties would continue to approach the median as the pandemic persisted. He said his company focused only on reminding local citizens to adhere to COVID’s protection practices. adding articulated hands often.
“It’s to predict,” she says.
You can contact Mike Easterling at 505-564-4610 or Measterling@daily-times. com support journalism with a virtual subscription.