NMPED News:

SANTA FE — The Public Education Department announced Friday 18 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:

• Two cases in Chaves County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 2 and Oct. 6. 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 Oct. 2. The other 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 cases.

• Three cases in Doña Ana County. Two of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 24 and Sept. 25. 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 Eddy County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 24. 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 Hidalgo County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Sept. 24. 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 McKinley 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.

• Three cases in Rio Arriba County. The infected individuals are students who were 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 cases.

• One case in Sandoval County. The 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 case.

• One case in Santa Fe County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 2. 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 Sierra County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 2. 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 student who was last on school property Oct. 2. 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, 285 total cases have been reported in 150 schools. Of those, 195 have been staff members and 90 have been students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode Sept. 8, 166 cases have been reported in 109 schools, including 112 staff members and 54 students.

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