Last week saw continued improvements in case counts and hospitalizations in the USA, New Mexico, and Taos County. Improvements in the daily death count have been slower to materialize in New Mexico and remain just above ten per day, but there were no new reported deaths in Taos County last week.

The CDC considers the level of Covid-19 to be low in all counties in New Mexico with the exception of Cibola which had the highest case rate in the state on March 17. At the low level, the CDC does not recommend masking in public indoor spaces. Under the CDC’s old system, based on transmission rate, Taos County would be considered to have a moderate transmission rate, a level at which the CDC also did not recommend masking in public indoor spaces.

NMDoH is winding down its public Covid reporting and will no longer be producing press releases every weekday or press conferences every week. However, they continue to update their public data dashboard, my main source of data. Therefore I can continue to report on the situation in Taos County and New Mexico. The next scheduled regular Town Council meeting is Tuesday, April 8. I aim to produce my next report that day for the meeting.

I would like to express my gratitude for NMDoH and its staff for their consistently excellent data reporting over the last two years of this pandemic. They have kept us informed at the local level and helped our elected officials to make the decisions necessary for our community.

Report Summary:

Nationally, cases were down 5% in the last week, down 36% in New Mexico, and down 76% in Taos County.
The 7-day average daily case count in New Mexico decreased to 140 cases per day from 220 last week. The 7-day average peaked on Friday, January 21 at a record 5,571 cases per day.
Current hospitalizations in NM decreased 27%, the 7-day average is 115. Down from a peak of 682 on Jan 28.
Average deaths per day in NM decreased to 11 per day from 13 per day the prior week. Down from 23 at the end of January.
There were 6 new cases in Taos County last week, down from 25 the prior week, bringing the total to 5,293.
There were no additional deaths reported among Taos County residents last week. The total remains at 89.
Testing in Taos County decreased to a 7-day average of 82 tests per day, down from 99 the prior week.
Taos County is considered by the CDC to have a Low Level of Covid-19.
Taos County’s adult fully vaccinated rate is 89%. 59% of Taos County adults have received the booster, compared to 45% in NM.