CLOVIS -- Plains Regional Medical Center hit a milestone on Thursday. For the first time in 300 days, it reported zero hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
“I wrote down that number this (Thursday) morning and I remember thinking ‘I can’t remember writing zero before,’” Hospital Administrator Jorge Cruz said.
“I had to look it up. May 14, 2020, was our first (COVID-19) hospitalization.”
At least one patient has been hospitalized at PRMC with the virus since then, until Thursday.
But Cruz cautioned it’s not yet time to celebrate an end to the year-long pandemic.
“We’re not quite there yet. I know everybody is pushing for that,” he said. “But I do think the way the numbers have been trending the last several weeks – we’ve been in single digits for a while – I am extremely encouraged.”
He said PRMC continues to screen visitors and require masks, but the number of hospital visitors allowed has been increasing for several weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases drops throughout the region.
Curry and Roosevelt counties combined have reported just two virus-related deaths in the month of March. The counties combined have recorded fewer than five new virus-related cases per day this month, compared to 69 per day reported in November.