Because of increases in March, COVID-19 cases in Cibola are now at their highest since December 1, 2022.
Climbing through the month of March, Cibola County was hit with an increase of cases which brought one death due to COVID-19 at the end of the month. Reports suggest that both the federal and state governments are both considering ending the COVID-19 Public Health emergency, which will make tracking the disease much harder, while making COVID-19 tests and treatment more expensive. Showing that the state is preparing to end the COVID-19 emergency, the NM Supreme Court has ended the order mandating masks in courtrooms. As the state prepares to end this reporting, it is now being sued over its vaccination data and the Vax 2 the Max vaccination drive.
On March 30, the New Mexico Supreme Court announced that, beginning March 31, masks would no longer be required for “Any person inside a New Mexico courtroom or jury assembly area,” according to a press release from the court. Visitors to the courts will no longer need to fill out a health screening form. “Our courts adapted, innovated and remained open to serve the public despite many hardships during the past three years of the pandemic,” said Chief Justice Shannon Bacon. “This was possible because of many dedicated New Mexicans, particularly jurors, judicial employees, judges, hearing officers, attorneys, law enforcement and others who adhered to the COVID-safe policies of courts to preserve the availability of justice services.”
Through March, the active case count of COVID in Cibola grew by 56 cases compared to the beginning of the month. In the first week of March, Cibola had exactly 300 active cases, in the second week that number dropped to 283 active cases, creating optimism that the disease was falling. The number grew to 300 cases in the third week, and rose substantially to 356 active cases in the final week of data reporting for March. Starting April, Cibola has 387 active cases.
According to the CDC, Cibola County has a high rate of positive COVID tests but a medium level of community transmissibility. This means that cases are more likely to be spread among family members or areas where social distancing is limited, like schools and offices, but it is less likely to be caught at larger public areas where proper ventilation and spacing between people is available.
Vaccine Changes
March brought a lot of vaccine news to Cibola County.
For unexplained reasons, Cibola’s COVID vaccine data actually decreased. In the fully vaccinated column, the county lost four vaccinated people. In the column for those with only one shot, the county lost eight individuals. This is not because they died. The Cibola Citizen is trying to understand what happened with this data and is working with the NM Department of Health to understand this change in data.
For the first three weeks of data reporting, Cibola’s vaccine data remained the same. The fully vaccinated rate was at 16,647, but then it dropped to 16,643. Those with one shot began at 19,909, and decreased to 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.
COVID Increases in March
March 2023 added 132 new cases of COVID19 to Cibola’s total count. This is 39 more cases than were added in February.
When March began, Cibola had 9,335 cases. When the month ended, Cibola had 9,467 cases, this means 135 new cases were added.
When March began, there were 300 active cases in Cibola County. This number decreased to 283 in the second week of the month, then rose to 299 active cases in the third week. The number rose again to 356 in the fourth week of the month. Currently, with the first week of data reporting for April, Cibola has in-creased to 387 active cases across the county.
New Cases in Cibola
December had 124 new cases. January had 62 new cases. February had 93 new cases.
March added 132 new cases, making it the first month of the year to exceed 100 new cases.
COVID-19 Increases by Age Group
In March, the largest increase in COVID cases came from middle-aged residents, 50-59. This increase was only a little larger than the next two highest increases in COVID by age group. The 60-69 age group added the second highest amount of cases, with the 30-39 and 70-79 age groups tying for the third highest increase.
The 0-9 age group demographic added 14 new cases in February, bringing their total to 1,050 cases.
The 10-19 age demographic added 12 new cases. Bringing their total to 1,444 cases.
The 20-29 age demographic added eight new cases, bringing their total caseload to 1,401.
The 30-39 demographic added 17 new cases. This age group tied with the 70-79 age group for the third highest increase. This group’s total caseload ended the month at 1,1423 cases.
The 40-49 demographic added seven new cases, bringing their caseload to 1,296 cases.
The 50-59 age demographic added 23 new cases. This is largest increase in cases through the month of March. This age group’s total caseload rested at 1,132 at the end of February.
The 60-69 age demographic added 18 cases. This age group had the second highest increase of cases for the second time in a row. This group’s total caseload ended the month at 899 cases.
The 70-79 age demographic added 17 new cases. This age group tied with the 30–39-year-old age group for the third largest increase in cases. By the end of March, this group’s total caseload rested at 517.
The 80-89 age demographic added six new cases, bringing their total caseload 247.
The 90+ age demographic added one new case to the county’s caseload. This age group’s total caseload grew to 57.