NMPED News:

SANTA FE — The Public Education Department today announced 30 new positive cases of COVID-19 – 21 staff members and nine students – 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:

• Eight cases in Bernalillo County. Seven of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 15, 16 and 20. The other infected individual is a student who was last on campus Sept. 28. 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 Chaves 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 Curry 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.
• Four cases in Eddy County. Two of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 19. The other two infected individuals are students who were last on campus Oct. 9 and 15. 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. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 16 and 20. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
• Five cases in Luna County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on campus Oct. 13. The other four infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 2, 15, 19 and 21. 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 McKinley County. The infected individuals are students who were 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 cases.
• One case in Roosevelt County. The infected individual is a student 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 case.
• Two cases in Sandoval County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on school property Oct. 15. The other infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 21. 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 San Juan County. Both of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 13 and Oct. 20. 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 Sierra County. The infected individual is a student who was last on campus Oct. 21. 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, 466 total cases have been reported in 253 schools, including 301 staff members and 165 students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, a total of 427 cases have been reported in 231 schools, including 279 staff members and 148 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.