Cannon airman tests positive for COVID-19

An airman at Cannon Air Force Base has tested positive for COVID-19, according to Cannon officials.

Test results were received Friday, they said.

The airman is believed to be the same person as the Roosevelt County resident who was reported having tested positive on Friday. State Sen. Stuart Ingle said the airman lives in Portales and was tested at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis.

Roosevelt County Manager Amber Hamilton said the governor’s office told her the Roosevelt County man is in his 20s.

According to a news release from Cannon:

“The member, while traveling out of the area on terminal leave in the East Coast earlier this month, came in contact with an individual who had tested positive for COVID-19.

“Upon return, the member contacted our 24/7 Public Health Hotline and was immediately placed in self-isolation at their residence in the local area. The member will remain in self-isolation in accordance with CDC protocols. Once the member is no longer symptomatic, they will be re-evaluated for a follow-up test.”

Eastern New Mexico has at least two residents who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Officials said a Curry County woman in her 50s tested positive on Monday at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis. That woman has been quarantined at home. She likely was infected while traveling, officials have said.

Jodi McGinnis-Porter, communications director for New Mexico’s Human Services Department, has said that privacy laws prevent the release of individual health information. But she said health officials are “investigating each positive test case and communicating with those who the patient was in contact with.”

New Mexico had reported 191 confirmed cases as of Friday. One man, in his late 70s, died Sunday at Artesia General Hospital.

The state reported Thursday there were 17 people hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19.