Department of Health county map update: More than half the state in Yellow and Green
All counties improve; all but four counties see positivity rate below 10% |
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Today, the New Mexico Department of Health announced the updated statewide COVID-19 map for the two-week period beginning Feb. 10, with 15 New Mexico counties at the Yellow Level and four at the Green Level, reflecting an improving overall COVID-19 outlook for the state.
Every county saw improvements in their average daily per-capita rate of new cases over the last two weeks, and 30 counties saw improvements in their test positivity rate.
The state’s county-by-county system uses key health metrics – the per-capita daily incidence of new COVID-19 cases and average COVID-19 test positivity within county borders – to determine the level of public health risk and requirement for each county. A county that meets one criterion may operate at the Yellow Level; a county that meets both may operate at the Green Level.
Counties that met one of the health metric thresholds and may operate at the Yellow Level beginning Feb. 10 are: Bernalillo, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, Dona Ana, Grant, Guadalupe, Los Alamos, Mora, Quay, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos and Valencia.
Counties that met both of the health metric thresholds and may operate at the Green Level beginning Feb. 10 are: Catron, Harding, Sierra and Union.
Twenty-nine counties reported a positivity rate below 10 percent, close to the state threshold of 5 percent, a dramatic increase from 11 counties below 10 percent one month.
“New Mexicans have been working hard to get this virus back under control,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “The state’s efforts to continue our aggressive testing while efficiently distributing vaccines have contributed to the improving outlook for New Mexico. We’re not out of the woods yet, and vigilance is the only way to make sure we keep making progress. I ask all New Mexicans to please continue the hard work and continue making the right, and safe, choices each and every day, so we can see more of our state get into the Yellow and Green, and so we can keep ourselves, our families and our state safe.”
IMPROVING PER-CAPITA CASE RATES:
Over the past two weeks, every county saw its per-capita new daily case rate improve; one county (Harding) saw no change. The counties of Sierra, Catron, Taos, Union and Curry saw the greatest improvements by percentage.
Other than sparsely populated Harding County, the county with the lowest daily per-capita new case rate is Catron County, at 2 per 100,000 as of Feb. 10. It is followed by Union County (3.5), Sierra County (5.2), Taos County (10.5) and Mora County (11). The state threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 8 per 100,000.
IMPROVING POSITIVITY RATES:
Over the past two weeks, 30 counties saw their test positivity rate improve; one county (Harding) saw no change. The counties of Sierra, Catron, Taos, Curry and San Juan saw the greatest increases by percentage.
Other than sparsely populated Harding County, the county with the lowest positivity rate is Union County, with 0.98 percent of tests returning positive as of Feb. 10. It is followed by Sierra County (1.16 percent), Catron County (1.69 percent), Taos County (2.11 percent) and Los Alamos County (2.18). The state threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 5 percent.
The counties of De Baca and Socorro saw an increase in their test positivity rates, though Socorro is on the threshold of the Yellow Level at 6.26 percent of tests returned positive. Socorro County is the only county to regress to a more restrictive level during the two-week period that began Jan. 27; in accordance with the operative public health order, a county that moves to a more restrictive level must begin operating at the more restrictive level within 2 days.
The color-coded tier system – Red Level, Yellow Level and Green Level – enables counties to shed restrictions and provide local communities the flexibility to operate more day-to-day activities as soon as public health data show the virus is retreating within their borders.
The public health order, the red-to-green framework and frequently asked questions are all available at cv.nmhealth.org/redtogreen, where New Mexicans can also view the test positivity rate and new case incidence for each county as of Dec. 2. |
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