Department of Health county map update Jan. 27: Seven reach Yellow Level, one county at Green Level

Jan 27, 2021 

More than two-thirds of counties now on the cusp of Yellow Level; almost every county improving in both health metrics, suppressing virus

SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health on Wednesday announced the updated statewide COVID-19 map for the two-week period beginning Jan. 27, with seven New Mexico counties at the Yellow Level and one at the Green Level, reflecting an improving overall COVID-19 outlook for the state.

Twenty-eight of 33 counties saw improvements in their average daily per-capita rate of new cases in the last two weeks, and 29 counties saw improvements in their test positivity rate. In addition, the state’s most populous counties – Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Sandoval, San Juan and Santa Fe – each improved dramatically in both of the two health gating criteria metrics.

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.

Harding County met both health metric thresholds and may continue to operate at the Green Level, which it first reached Jan. 13. The counties of Colfax, Grant, Los Alamos, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro and Union met one of the health metric thresholds – a positivity rate below 5 percent in each county – and may operate at the Yellow Level beginning Jan. 27.

Twenty four counties reported a positivity rate below 10 percent, close to the state threshold of 5 percent, an increase from 11 counties below 10 percent two weeks ago.

IMPROVING PER-CAPITA CASE RATES:

Over the past two weeks, 28 counties saw their per-capita new daily case rate improve; two other counties (Harding and Socorro) saw no change. The improving counties are: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Doña Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lea, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, Sandoval, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Torrance, Union and Valencia, with Catron, Lea, Sierra, Mora and Union seeing 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 10.1 per 100,000 as of Jan. 27. It is followed by Union County (10.5), Mora County (14.1), Torrance County (21.5) and Quay County (25.5). The state threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 8 per 100,000.

The counties of Lincoln, Luna and Taos saw an increase in their per-capita new daily case rates.

IMPROVING POSITIVITY RATES:

Over the past two weeks, 29 counties saw their test positivity rate improve, with one county (Harding) seeing no change. Those improving counties are: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Doña Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lea, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, Sandoval, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Union and Valencia, with De Baca, Catron, San Juan, Roosevelt, Colfax and Lea seeing the greatest increases by percentage.

Other than sparsely populated Harding County, the county with the lowest daily per-capita new case rate is Union County, with 2.1 percent of tests returning positive as of Jan. 27. It is followed by Socorro County (3.56 percent), San Miguel County (3.96 percent), Grant County (4.35 percent) and Sierra County (4.55). The state threshold for moving to a less restrictive level is 5 percent.

The counties of Luna, Lincoln and Taos saw an increase in their test positivity rates, though Taos remains on the threshold of the Yellow Level at 6.07 percent of tests returned positive.

POPULOUS COUNTIES:

The state’s five most populous counties – Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Santa Fe, Sandoval and San Juan – each increased in both of the health metrics.

Bernalillo County saw a new daily per-capita case rate of 32.7 per 100,000, a decrease of 36.5 percent over two weeks, and a test positivity rate of 6.68 percent, a decrease of 37 percent over two weeks.

Doña Ana County saw a new daily per-capita case rate of 39.6 per 100,000, a decrease of 19 percent over two weeks, and a test positivity rate of 9.46, a decrease of 27 percent over two weeks.

Sandoval County saw a new daily per-capita case rate of 36 per 100,000, a decrease of 39 percent over two weeks, and a test positivity rate of 6.14, a decrease of 43 percent over two weeks.

San Juan County saw a new daily per-capita case rate of 60.4 per 100,000, a decrease of 42 percent over two weeks, and a test positivity rate of 12.17, a decrease of 36 percent over two weeks.

Santa Fe County saw a new daily per-capita case rate of 33.1 per 100,000, a decrease of 29 percent over two weeks, and a test positivity rate of 6.24 percent, a decrease of 31 percent over two weeks.

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.

The requirements for each level are available below and at cv.nmhealth.org/redtogreen.