COVID-19 has taken a serious toll on Cibola County. As of May 9, 188 residents of Cibola have died due to COVID-19; 7,164 positive tests have been officially recorded; 129,369 COVID-19 tests have been performed. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has reported that 1 in 4 residents of Cibola County has caught COVID-19.
The current count of cases from May 9 may not be an accurate accounting of COVID-19 cases as data from the state is lagging, the month of May has had many anomalies in case data provided by the New Mexico Department of Health. Despite the anomalies in case data, Cibola’s COVID caseload has been growing and the county currently has more active COVID-19 cases than it did in the middle of March, just after the Omicron wave subsided.
In the official count of COVID-19 cases for Cibola County, women have proven to be more susceptible to the disease than men. Women make up 54.16 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases, compared to men who make up 45.84 percent of the total count. Researchers and local public health officials say that more research is required to understand why this is the case.
The accessibility of rapid COVID-19 tests and relaxed requirements about reporting positive test has made the already undercounted number of positive cases in Cibola that much larger. Many infections of the disease come up asymptomatic, meaning that people may be spreading the disease without showing any symptoms. For these reasons, COVID-19 cases in the county are severely undercounted.
2020
COVID-19 has struck Cibola County in waves, with different variants making the situation worse and worse each time.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The disease first butted its head in Cibola County on March 24, 2020. This early variant came to be known as the Alpha variant. A global lockdown of services, stores, and government followed. The lockdown helped to keep COVID-19 cases from exploding out of control in the early days of the pandemic, but large gatherings continued to contribute to a large increase in COVID-19 cases across Cibola County.
A large gathering for the Fourth of July, held in protest by the City of Grants against the state government for lockdowns, contributed to a massive increase of positive COVID-19 test results. When charted on a graph, the impact of this gathering was the very first spike of COVID-19 in the county, with 178 people testing positive about two weeks after the event. Early COVID-19 took around two weeks to show symptoms from infection.
COVID-19 cases fell rapidly after this explosion of cases. October 2020 would see a growing number of COVID-19 cases, the growth of cases would last until February of 2021, but came to a peak on November 23. The spike in cases that followed the Fourth of July set a record for the single largest increase in COVID-19 cases in Cibola until January 18, 2022. The Alpha variant of COVID-19 set a record for the 14-day case average which wouldn’t be beaten until 2022’s Omicron surge of cases.
2021
The year began with a surge of the Alpha variant of COVID-19, but began decreasing as February began. By April, the 14- day change rate had drastically fallen. Come August, cases would begin to rise again, led by the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Delta would push Cibola into a new threat level with the virus. Delta was not as infectious as Alpha, but it never reached the low levels that Alpha did.
Delta would last until the end of the year, adding a large number of new cases to the county’s total amount. There were few social gatherings during this time.
2022
Delta would begin the year, but it did not have the chance to subside as Alpha had done. A new variant, called Omicron, would take the waning COVID-19 cases and push them to new – record setting – extremes.
COVID-19 peaked on January 18, 2022. On this day 265 Cibola County residents tested positive for COVID-19. Cases slowly began to fall, decreasing to zero new cases per day, this did not last. As the month of May began, a series of anom alies from the New Mexico Department of Health’s data has made tracking the disease more difficult. Despite the anomalies, COVID-19 cases are on the increase in Cibola County once again, but charts do not accurately reflect the current caseload because of the anomalies in data.
Wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing remain some of the best tools available to residents of Cibola to protect against COVID-19. Those who are eligible and are looking for a COVID-19 vaccine can visit https://goodtimes.vaccinenm.org/stay-ahead-nm/ and register for a shot.