Covid Cases Rise Sharply in New Mexico Despite Widespread Vaccination

• Nov. 10, 2021, 9:19 a.m. ET

Coronavirus cases are surging faster successful New Mexico than successful immoderate different state, contempt its comparatively precocious vaccination rate, and immoderate hospitals determination are overwhelmed.

After a quiescent outpouring and summertime connected the coronavirus front, the past mates of months person been hard for the authorities arsenic cases roseate rapidly, plateaued and are present rising again.

New regular cases per idiosyncratic are up 48 percent implicit the past 2 weeks, compared with a 6 percent summation nationwide, according to a New York Times database. Neighboring Colorado, which is facing its ain surge, activated crisis attraction standards connected Tuesday; that allows the National Guard to enactment overwhelmed hospitals and let aesculapian facilities to determination unit around.

Experts aren’t informing of a catastrophic winter, with New Mexico obscurity adjacent the highest caseloads it reached precocious past fall. But expanding hospitalizations are causing interest successful a authorities with fewer beds per person than astir immoderate different state.

New Mexico led the mode successful vaccinations successful the United States successful the spring, and wellness officials successful the authorities person been tracking whether that means residents who haven’t gotten booster shots could present beryllium much susceptible to infections. Although implicit 70 percent of the state’s hospitalized Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated, aboriginal vaccinations could beryllium a origin successful the existent surge, Dr. David R. Scrase, New Mexico’s wellness and quality services secretary, said successful an interview.

“We’re the archetypal ones to vaccinate, we’re going to beryllium the archetypal 1 to acquisition the waning immunity,” helium said.

In Farmington, successful northwestern New Mexico, the San Juan Regional Medical Center instituted “crisis standards of care” past week, meaning that immoderate patients whitethorn beryllium denied wellness attraction services due to the fact that of a shortage of resources. It besides brought successful further wellness attraction workers to negociate the emergence successful patients.

Laura Werbner, a spokeswoman for the facility, said that 88 patients determination had been hospitalized with Covid-19 connected Wednesday. That is not the astir the infirmary has cared for successful 1 time — that was 100 patients connected Dec. 30 — but the quality present is “that resources are stretched truthful thin,” she said.

Numbers provided by the infirmary bespeak that vaccinations were inactive protecting galore patients who had received shots. From Oct. 1 to Nov. 2, it cared for 289 Covid patients, 81 percent of whom were not afloat vaccinated.

“Right now, this is simply a illness of the unvaccinated,” Ms. Werbner said.

The reasons for the summation successful cases astir the authorities are complex.

Kathryn A. Hanley, a prof of biology astatine New Mexico State University whose laboratory is studying the coronavirus, said that “New Mexico has been terrific astir implementing regulations, disguise mandates and societal distancing regulations, and radical person been bully astir complying with the regulations.”

The problem, she said, is that the Delta variant deed arsenic residents’ immunity began to wane.

Demographics are besides astatine play. New Mexico has much children per household than galore different states, which makes it susceptible due to the fact that galore children stay unvaccinated, Dr. Hanley noted.

“A batch of the communities present are intimately connected, with a batch of household visitation,” she said, and that makes for conditions that are conducive to the transmission of the virus.

Sarah Cahalan contributed research.