The Perfect Enemy | COVID on the decline in NM

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been on the decline for the last month, according to the New Mexico Department of Health’s weekly epidemiology reports.

The state reported 4,500 new cases and 124 people with COVID were admitted to hospitals in the seven-day period ending on Aug. 15, according to the reports. About a month ago, the state reported 6,642 and 167 hospitalizations the week ending July 25.

That means cases have declined about 32% and hospital admissions were down 26% in a four-week period.

On Wednesday, the state reported 735 new cases and 13 additional deaths, pushing the statewide toll to 8,334 since the start of the pandemic.

There were 158 people with COVID in hospitals across the state on Wednesday.

Though vaccines are continuing to prove effective, many of the cases are breakthrough infections, meaning the infected person has been vaccinated. Close to 80% of New Mexicans 18 years and older are vaccinated.

In the last four weeks, unvaccinated people accounted for 38.2% of the cases, 51% of the hospitalizations and 42.6% of the deaths. There were 26 unvaccinated people and 35 vaccinated people who died during the four-week period, according to the reports.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said publicly that the agency didn’t respond fast enough to the COVID pandemic and that the agency needed to be overhauled.

Its messaging on masking and other protective measures were confusing and sometimes abruptly modified, according to The New York Times. Going forward, the CDC will put a greater emphasis on public health needs and less of an emphasis on publishing papers about rare diseases.