PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

The Public Education Department on Oct. 20 announced 30 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:

§  Four cases in Bernalillo County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on campus Oct. 13. The other three infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 7, 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 Chaves County. The infected individual is a staff member who was on campus Oct. 13. 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 Curry County. Two of the individuals are staff members who were last on school property Sept. 28, Oct. 19. The other infected individual is a student who was last on campus 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 Doña Ana County. The 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 case.

§  One case in Eddy County. The infected individual is a student 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.

§  Five cases in Lea County. Four of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 2, 8, 13 and Oct. 16. The fifth infected individual is a student who was last on campus Oct. 2. 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 Lincoln 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. 13. 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 Luna County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Sept. 30. 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 Roosevelt County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 12.  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 Sandoval County. Three of the infected individuals are students who were last on school property Sept. 15 and Oct.15. The other infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 12. 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 San Juan County.  All three infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 14, 16, and 19. 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 Miguel County. Both of the infected individuals are students who were last on campus Sept. 25 and Oct. 12. 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 Santa Fe County.  Both of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on campus Sept. 30 and Oct. 9. All staff members and the parents and guardians of all students in the affected school have been notified of the positive cases.

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, 396 total cases have been reported in 215 schools. Of those, 263 have been staff members and 133 have been students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, a total of 327 cases have been reported in 192 schools, including 208 staff members and 119 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 Dept. 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, please visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.