NMPED News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Public Education Department today 42 new positive cases of COVID-19 (24 staff members, 18 students) in the last 96 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:

• Six cases in Bernalillo County. Four of the infected individuals are students who were last on campus Oct. 5 and Oct. 6. Two other infected individuals are staff members who were 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 cases.
• Ten cases in Chaves County. Five of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Oct. 5 and Oct. 6. The other five infected individuals are staff members who were last on campus Sept. 29, Oct. 6 and Oct. 8. 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 Curry County. Two of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Sept. 19 and Oct. 1. The other infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 5. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.
• Six cases in Doña Ana County. All of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 5, 6, and 7. The other infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 7.  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 Hidalgo County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 7. 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 Lea County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 8. 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 Lincoln County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 6. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive case.
• Six cases in McKinley County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 2, 5, 7 and 8.  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 Rio Arriba County. One of the infected individuals is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 1. The other infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 5. 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 Sandoval County. The infected individuals are students who were last on school property Oct. 5, 6 and 7. 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 school property Oct. 1. 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, 327 total cases have been reported in 167 schools. Of those, 219 have been staff members and 108 have been students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode Sept. 8, 208 cases have been reported in 128 schools, including 136 staff members and 72 students.

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