PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

23 staff members, two students tested positive

The Public Education Department on Oct. 28 announced 25 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. All of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 8, 20 and 21.

§  One case in Chaves County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 23.

§  Five cases in Doña Ana County. All of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 1, 13, 16, 22 and 23.

§  Three cases in Eddy County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 9, 22, and 26.

§  One case in Luna County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 22.

§  Two cases in Rio Arriba County. The infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 23.

§  Four cases in Roosevelt County. Three of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 19, 21 and 26. The other infected individual is a student who was last on campus Oct. 13.

§  Three cases in Sandoval County. One of the infected individuals is a student who was last on school property Oct. 22. The other two infected individual are staff members who were last on campus Sept. 25 and Oct. 20.

§  One case in Santa Fe County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 22.

§  One case in Torrance County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on campus Oct. 21.

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, 638 total cases have been reported in 310 schools, including 441 staff members and 197 students. 

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, a total of 568 cases have been reported in 285 schools, including 389 staff members and 179 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, please visit: https://bit.ly/SafeSchoolsNM.