Roosevelt closing on green status

Curry County reached yellow status in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plans two weeks before Roosevelt County did. With another two-week data collection period complete, it appears Roosevelt will beat Curry to green status.

The state has, since Nov. 30, graded counties every two weeks on meeting gating criteria of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity at or below 5%. Green counties meet both, yellow counties meet one, red counties meet neither and turquoise counties make green for two consecutive data collection periods.

A four-tier public health order applies to each county, with relaxed restrictions for yellow, green and turquoise levels.

Curry County made the yellow designation Feb. 10, while Roosevelt County made it Feb. 24.

However, data shows Roosevelt is likely to beat Curry to reach green status when new designations are released this afternoon.

Between the last data collection period on Feb. 22 and Monday:

• Curry County has confirmed 66 cases and conducted 2,710 tests, a raw test positivity rate of 2.44%.

• Roosevelt County has confirmed 13 cases and conducted 1,127 tests, a raw test positivity rate of 1.15%.

The state calculates test positivity by eliminating duplicate tests from data collection, but those numbers are not provided on the public dashboard.

Curry County must be below 56 new cases and Roosevelt 23 over a two-week period to meet the daily cases per 100,000 criteria.

Outside calculation is an inexact science because the data the state uses to calculate its two-week information is different from the public information it releases on a daily basis:

• Regarding daily cases, the state provides a daily release of confirmed cases with county breakdowns. When it goes back to calculate data, testing results are reassigned to the date of the test to elminate discrepancies between lab turnaround time.

• Regarding test positivity rates, the state calculates positive tests by total tests taken, after removing any duplicate tests and results. The state’s public dashboard makes no distinctions about duplicate tests.

Monday’s report from the state confirmed just 126 new COVID-19 cases, with seven in Curry County and one in Roosevelt County. None of the three COVID-19 deaths came locally.

Saturday and Sunday each saw only two new cases between the counties, with each county confirming one case Sunday and Curry reporting both on Saturday.

In other COVID-19 developments:

• According to the state’s vaccine portal, a total of 681,771 COVID-19 vaccinations have been distributed and 25.4% of New Mexicans have had at least one of two doses. A total of 14.5% have been fully vaccinated.

In Curry County, 20.7% of residents are partially vaccinated and 15.1% are fully vaccinated. Registrations at cvvaccine.nmhealth.org equal 19.7% of the county population.

In Roosevelt County, 20.1% of residents are partially vaccinated and 13.1% are fully vaccinated. Registrations at cvvaccine.nmhealth.org equal 22.1% of the county population.

• There were 44 establishments Friday on the state’s rapid response watchlist, which tracks entities with multiple rapid responses in a 14-day timeframe.

That is the same number as Friday, and the list still includes no local establishments.

The state initiates a rapid response when it learns of a positive COVID-19 case in a workplace. The state agency initiating the rapid response will offer direction to establishments regarding testing, quarantining and isolating, disinfecting, and COVID-safe practices.

An establishment that reaches four rapid responses inside 14 days is under consideration for a 14-day closure, but no local establishment has been closed under such a directive.