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Highly infectious delta variant of COVID-19 reaches Doña Ana County as cases increase

Las Cruces Sun-News - 8/2/2021

LAS CRUCES - The highly contagious delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has reached Doña Ana County as COVID-19 cases trend upward in New Mexico and across the nation.

Over the weekend, the southern county adjacent to El Paso, Texas was classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having substantial risk for transmission of the virus, based on local test positivity and daily case averages.

The CDC announced Monday it was extending its October order restricting the admission of noncitizens with the exception of unaccompanied minors. The announcement came as the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights organizations resumed a Trump-era lawsuit challenging Title 42, the policy used to turn away the majority of migrants seeking asylum in the United States.

The state health department reported over 1,000 new cases over the weekend. Daily reporting is subject to frequent revisions to reflect corrected data, but 14-day averages reflect a drastic increase since July 1, when the state dropped limits on mass gatherings and business activities.

As of Monday, 22 of New Mexico's 33 counties were rated at high or substantial risk, days after state health officials adopted CDC guidance that all individuals in those areas wear a mask indoors in public settings, regardless of vaccination status.

According to New Mexico Department of Health data, Doña Ana County's first three sequenced cases of the delta variant were identified between reports on variants of concern on July 12 and July 26.

It was one of 25 counties where the strain's presence was confirmed.

Variants are a natural result of community spread and reproduction of a virus. Delta has been classified as a variant of concern based on evidence of increased transmissibility and resistance to some monoclonal antibody treatments.

More: New Mexico to pay another round of $100 incentives for COVID-19 vaccinations in August

At a July 17 press briefing, acting state Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase, who also heads the state Human Services Department, said there are hundreds of variants but the delta variant alone was already accountable for up to 80 percent of new cases in the state, which have quadrupled in pace overall during July.

"As in the rest of the country, Delta is now the dominant strain in New Mexico, and it's at least twice as contagious as previous strains," health department spokesman Matt Bieber wrote the Sun-News. "We can protect ourselves and our loved ones — and it starts with vaccination and testing."

Last week, the state extended the CDC's guidance and recommended all New Mexico mask up indoors, regardless of individual county risk data, given increased infections statewide. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also announced that state government employees would be required to prove they had been vaccinated or be tested regularly for COVID-19.

The health department is also urging residents to be tested for COVID-19, vaccinated or not, if presenting symptoms consistent with the disease, is scheduled for surgery or admission to a hospital, has been exposed to someone positive for COVID-19 or living or working in high-risk congregate settings.

Thus far, data show the vaccines remain effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from the illness, although the delta and alpha variants have shown more resilience against them.

No variants have been shown to evade vaccine-induced or natural immunity, and so far have demonstrated that the three vaccines in use in the United States remain highly effective at preventing serious disease, including from delta and other variants, per the CDC.

However, an internal CDC presentation made public last week indicated that the delta variant is as contagious as chicken pox, with hosts remaining infectious for longer periods. That, in combination with a shorter incubation period, means one infected person has the potential to transmit the virus to more people.

For Doña Ana, health department data on July 26 listed 55 alpha (B.1.1.7), 3 gamma (P.1) and the county's first 3 delta (B.1.617.2) cases, as well as 319 sequenced to other lineages.

While the county ranks second in the state for number of cases since the pandemic reached New Mexico in March 2020, with 25,526, as of July 26 delta was sequenced to far more cases elsewhere in the state.

San Juan County led the state among all three variants of concern, with 295 alpha, 28 gamma and 29 delta.

With new cases increasing again, so have hospitalizations around the state, with 148 patients reported Monday.

Around the nation: Sen. Lindsey Graham tests positive for COVID, credits vaccination for mild symptoms

On Monday, Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces said it had "less than a handful COVID patients."

"The majority of our admissions have been unvaccinated patients," MMC's director of infection control and prevention, registered nurse Twyla Anderson, said, adding that two patients who had taken vaccine "did well" and were released from the hospital in under two days.

Besides vaccination and masking indoors, Anderson recommended planning group activities outdoors, frequent handwashing, staying home when sick, covering coughs and sneezes and maintaining personal health, including rest.

Read the July 26 variants-of-concern report here:

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

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