NMPED COVID-19 Update: 13 Staff Members And 8 Students Test Positive In New Mexico Public Schools In Last 24 Hours

NMPED News:

SANTA FE — The Public Education Department Oct. 21 announced 21 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Rapid response has been initiated, and all pertinent information has been verified with the schools and school districts.

The following new cases have been reported:

  • Three cases in Bernalillo County. All of the infected individuals are students who were last on campus Oct. 14 and Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
  • One case in Curry County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 13. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
  • Five cases in Doña Ana County. Four of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 25, Oct. 8, Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. The other infected individual is a student who was last on campus Oct. 14. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
  • Two cases in Eddy County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 15 and Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
  • Three cases in Lea County. Two of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Oct. 16. The other infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
  • Three cases in McKinley County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on school property Oct. 15. The other two infected individuals are staff members who were last on campus Oct. 15 and Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
  • One case in Sandoval County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
  • One case in San Juan County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 16. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
  • One case in Santa Fe County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 15. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
  • One case in Valencia County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 7. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.

All “close contacts” will be informed of the positive case(s) and instructed to quarantine for 14 days. Affected classrooms and facilities will be cleaned and disinfected.

Staff must be tested if symptomatic or a “close contact”; however, staff members will not be required to present a negative test result in order to return to work. Symptomatic staff may return to work after 10 days plus 24 hours after the fever is gone and COVID-19 symptoms have improved. Asymptomatic staff who have been “close contacts” may return to work after a 14-day quarantine.

The PED has collected this data since Aug. 17; since then, 417 total cases have been reported in 223 schools. Of those, 276 have been staff members and 141 have been students.  

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, a total of 348 cases have been reported in 200 schools, including 221 staff members and 127 students.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department rapid response team has removed duplicate records in case counts as of Oct. 19, and as a result, the cumulative case count has been reduced. In addition, New Mexico’s Department of Health has advised the PED to cancel certain cases previously reported because of insufficient details. 

For additional information about COVID-19 safety in schools, visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.

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