Cibola County has so far had a rough month in the battle against COVID-19. Cases are on the rise, and due to holidays COVID-19 data is lagging from the state Department of Health.
Four residents have died in Cibola County from COVID-19 since
May 31.
The deaths come as COVID-19 reached a higher rate of transmission in the month of June than it had in the month of March. February had the highest transmission of COVID so far this year, ending the month with 721 active cases of COVID; at its peak, June’s COVID surge hit 586 active cases.
40-year-old Cibola residents had the highest rate of COVID-19 transmission so far this month, contributing 58 new cases this month alone. They were followed by the 50- 59 age group which added 49 new cases to the county total. The third highest contributor to COVID growth so far in the month of June has been the 30–39-year-old group, adding 47 new cases.
When school reopened to students, COVID-19 cases shot up. Since the reopening of schools in Cibola County, schoolaged children from 0-9 and 10-19 have been leading the growth of COVID cases. Now that school has broken for Summer, COVID-19 cases among school-aged children have plummeted.
In the month of June, the age group 0-9 added 30 new cases to the county case load, the fourth lowest contribution this month. The 10–19- year-old group added 39 cases, the fourth highest contribution to cases this month.
June 27 is the first time all month that Cibola County reported a decrease in 14-day case growth, with the county seeing a 52 percent decrease in COVID cases. The rate of transmission in Cibola has not decreased, however. Currently 17 percent of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive – this is not a fully accurate picture of the COVID situation in Cibola because very few home tests are which come up positive are reported to the state. Of tests done by the New Mexico Department of Health, about two in 10 are coming up positive in Cibola. Because of the rise and availability of home tests, the exact percent of positive COVID tests will never be known, the official statistics from NMDOH is much lower than the actual statistics on the ground.
COVID remains a crisis situation in Cibola, nearly 200 families have lost a loved one. Cibola slowly creeps toward the dark milestone the county is reminded of the heavy toll this disease has imposed.