COVID-19 in Cibola Trough April

After peaking in mid-April, COVID-19 cases across Cibola County have slowly come down. This most recent spike in cases was deadly. Generally, deaths lag behind the case spike; many people do not know they were infected for the first two days of infection, COVID-19 hits quick and it lingers, a person could be sick for over a week before they pass away from the illness. As of May 8, 218 Cibola County residents have died of COVID-19.

Despite the growing death toll in Cibola, and the consistently high infection rate which at the beginning of the pandemic would have been enough to set off alarm bells, experts are saying that the enough people have become vaccinated that COVID-19 should come to an end. On April 10, US President Joe Biden signed an act of congress declaring an end to the COVID19 health emergency in the United States, the legislation takes effect May 11, putting an end to many COVID-19 measures, including border security funding, that had been approved to counter the virus. Then, on May 4 the World Health Organization declared that COVID19 is not longer a global health emergency. In March, the New Mexico Supreme Court ended an order requiring face masks be worn inside of courtrooms.

The US is officially declaring an end to COVID-19 on Thursday, May 11. It is unclear what New Mexico will do when the crisis is over, but if the state ends their tracking of the virus, data collection for COVID-19’s impact on Cibola may come to an end.

Whatever happens with the COVID data, the Cibola Citizen will continue tracking the pandemic’s effects on the county for as long as possible.

As the state prepares to end COVID data reporting, it is being sued over its vaccination data and the Vax 2 the Max vaccination drive.

Through April, Cibola County added 105 new cases of COVID-1, making this the second highest month for infection rates in 2023. Cibola County began April with 9,510 total cases, and ended the month with 9,615.

Vaccine Changes

April did not see a single change in the COVID19 vaccine rates. The number of fully vaccinated individuals was 16,643 all month. The number of residents with only one vaccine shot did not change either, and it rested at 19,901.

During the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the state rolled out a new program called Vax 2 the Max where they incentivized residents to get the vaccine shot by offering cash drawings and a grand prize drawing of $5 million. Wanting to know where the money went, the Southwest Public Policy Institute made an Inspection of Public Records Act request on July 19, 2022 requesting the information, they have still not received it. So, using legal means afforded to them by power of IPRA, SPPI sued the state for violating the records act.

The State of New Mexico has been late in responding to court proceedings in this case, at least eight days late on average, and has still not explained why they refuse to release the information.

“The public has a right to know. It is unacceptable that a government agency would be so unaccountable and fail to respond to a properly served lawsuit, in addition to failing to provide the requested records,” said Patrick M. Brenner, president of SPPI. “We will continue to hold NMDOH accountable and pursue this case until justice is served.”

COVID Increases in April

April 2023 added 105 new cases of COVID-19 to Cibola’s total count. This is 27 cases less than were added in March. April had the second highest increase of COVID-19 this year, following March, which had the highest.

When March began, Cibola had 9,510 cases. When the month ended, Cibola had 9,615 cases, this means 105 new cases were added.

When April began, there were 387 active cases in Cibola County. This number increased to 417 in the second week of the month, then fell to 411 active cases in the third week. The number decreased again to 351 in the fourth week of the month. Currently, with the second week of data reporting for May, Cibola has decreased to 319 active cases across the county.

New Cases in Cibola January had 62 new cases. February had 93 new cases. March had 132 new cases, making it the first month of the year to exceed 100 new cases.

April added 105 new cases.

COVID-19 Increases by Age Group

In April, the largest increase in COVID cases was a tie between three different age groups. The 10-19, 30-39, and 60-69 age groups all added 14 cases, tying for the largest increase of the month.

The 0-9 age group demographic added 12 new cases, bringing their total to 1,068 cases.

The 10-19 age demographic added 14 new cases. Bringing their total to 1,459 cases.

The 20-29 age demographic added nine new cases, bringing their total caseload to 1,413.

The 30-39 demographic added 14 new cases. This group’s total caseload ended the month at 1,444 cases.

The 40-49 demographic added 12 new cases, bringing their caseload to 1,315 cases.

The 50-59 age demographic added 10 new cases. This age group’s total caseload rested at 1,151 at the end of February.

The 60-69 age demographic added 14 cases. This group’s total caseload ended the month at 916 cases.

The 70-79 age demographic added 10 new cases. This group’s total caseload rested at 529.

The 80-89 age demographic added 10 new cases, bringing their total caseload 259.

The 90+ age demographic added one new case to the county’s caseload. This age group’s total caseload grew to 60.