By Dan McKay and Dan Boyd/ Journal Capitol Bureau
Thursday, April 16 th, 2020 at 4: 35 pm
Albuquerque Fire Department paramedics and Albuquerque Ambulance personnel use gloves and masks while reacting to sick employ Northwest Albuquerque on Tuesday April 14,2020 (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)
SANTA FE– New Mexico health officials reported 8 more deaths Thursday as the coronavirus break out continued to grip the state, pushing the overall number of dead to 44.
It was the most deaths reported in any one day given that New Mexico’s first validated case was reported March 11.
The deaths consist of individuals varying in age from their 30 s to their 80 s– consisting of 5 grownups in San Juan and McKinley counties, which both have high Native American populations.
All however two of the deaths included individuals with underlying health conditions.
Entirely, state health officials reported 116 brand-new cases of COVID-19, the illness brought on by the coronavirus. The state now has 1,597 confirmed cases.
Ninety patients are now hospitalized with the disease, and 353 people are categorized as having actually recovered.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a Thursday declaration that New Mexico was grieving with the families of those that died.
” Each of these cases is a tragedy,” Lujan Grisham stated. “Each of the victims and their households and enjoyed ones are in my prayers.”
Native Americans have felt the force of the state’s coronavirus break out, with infection clusters reported on the Navajo Nation, which includes parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, and on Zia Pueblo and San Felipe Pueblo in Sandoval County.
In all, Native Americans make up a minimum of 36%of the state’s validated cases, according to state data launched earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Lujan Grisham likewise stated she appreciated standards launched by the White House about reopening the nation’s economy.
However the governor stated it’s still too early to lift social distancing measures in New Mexico, including organisation closures, saying doing so might endanger state citizens by increasing transmission rates.
” Please know that my administration is working doggedly to establish robust financial recovery plans together with a plan for a thoughtful, staged and versatile reopening of our state– and the minute we can safely carry out those plans, they will be carried out with the same commitment and focus that we are using to contain this pandemic,” Lujan Grisham said. “But very first things first.”
