While much of the country has begun getting back to normal, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over according to health professionals and recent data on infection rates. New Mexico joins nearly 40 other states in becoming an area of “high transmission” as the extremely contagious delta variant spreads and many people remain unvaccinated. Lea County hit a recent high of 131 new COVID-19 infections in a single day on Tuesday, August 10.
For the last couple of months, Lea County had fairly low infection rates with only an average of about 1 new case per day, according to data compiled by Google. However, infections began to rise locally in mid-July with a considerable spike this week bringing the 7-day average to 55 daily infections.
The spike has caused local health care facilities to fill up their available space for COVID patients. David Shaw, Administrator of the Nor-Lea Hospital District in Lovington, explained during a press conference on Monday that Nor-Lea has been coordinating with Covenant Health in Hobbs to transfer patients between the two based on availability of beds.
Despite this coordination, space still ran out for at least one COVID patient. “Over the weekend, Nor-Lea Hospital District had to transfer a patient to Denver CO because facilitates in Texas and New Mexico are full,” said Shaw.
While Shaw reassured the public at the press conference that the increased infections were “certainly not a reason to panic”, he did note his concern.
We’re at a yellow status which is the lowest level of caution, but we’re doing that in anticipation of further case count increases and stress on the health care system.
David Shaw, Administrator, Nor-Lea Hospital District
Jennifer Pyeatt, the Pharmacy Manager at Covenant Health in Hobbs, expressed her concern as well and noted during that same press conference that the particularly contagious nature of the new delta variant is causing exponential growth in COVID-19 infections. “The delta variant is highly contagious, even possibly as contagious as the chicken pox.”
Pyeatt also mentioned that the delta variant may cause more severe symptoms and health issues. “People are getting sicker quicker with this particular strain,” she said, adding that people infected with the delta strain are more likely to need hospitalization than with infections from previous strains.
Both Pyeatt and Shaw called on people who have not yet been vaccinated to get vaccinated. “We know that vaccination is the way out of this and vaccination is the way to prevent yourself from having severe disease and hospitalization,” Pyeatt said.
The state currently has a little over 56% of all residents vaccinated which is slightly higher than the national average of 51%. However, in Lea County only 21.2% of people are vaccinated, better only than Union County which has a vaccination rate of 17.8%.
These vaccination rates include children under 12 who are currently not eligible for vaccination. While children are at lower risk, they are not completely without risk. Pyeatt stated during the press conference that “two children died this past week in Memphis” from COVID-19. While health issues and death are a concern, the greater risk when it comes to children is that they can spread the disease throughout the community, potentially infecting more vulnerable people and providing opportunities for the virus to mutate into more dangerous strains.
Unvaccinated people should be particularly alarmed with this resurgence as they are at most risk. “Unvaccinated people remain the greatest concern for us,” Pyeatt said. “The number of deaths in the US has now hit over 615,000 people. 99% of all hospitalization and nearly all deaths in the past month have been non-vaccinated individuals.”
To put it into perspective, the risk of dying if you’re unvaccinated is 1 in 50. Your risk of dying if you are vaccinated is 1 in a million.
Jennifer Pyeatt, Pharmacy Manager, Covenant Health
New Mexico is encouraging vaccinations by offering $100 to people getting a dose during the month of August.
The Lovington Medical Clinic at Nor-Lea is currently offering the Pfizer vaccine Tuesdays through Thursdays between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. Local residents can register online or call to make an appointment. In Hobbs, COVID-19 vaccinations are available at some pharmacies such as Walmart and CVS. People can use Vaccines.gov to find and schedule a vaccination in their area.
Infections are likely to continue to increase in the near future which could create ongoing strain on our local health care facilities. Nor-Lea and Covenant are both monitoring the situation closely and preparing themselves to deal with the influx of new COVID-19 patients in the area.
