Login

15 new positive cases across New Mexico’s public schools

Print

seven staff members, eight students tested positive

SANTA FE — The Public Education Department on Oct. 15 announced 15 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:

One case in McKinley County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 2.

Two cases in Bernalillo County.  Both of the infected individuals are students who were last on campus Oct. 1 and Oct. 13.

· Four cases in Chaves County.  The infected individuals are all students who were last on school property Oct. 5, 6, and 8.

Three cases in Curry County. Two of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 9 and Oct. 13. The other infected individual is a student who was last on campus Sept. 25.

Two cases in Doña Ana County. Both of the infected individuals are staff members who were last on school property Oct. 2 and Oct. 6.

One case in Lea County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Oct. 8.

One case in Santa Fe County. The infected individual is a staff member who was last on school property Sept. 25.

One case in Valencia County. The infected individual is a student who was last on school property Oct. 9.

In the case of each school, 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, 363 total cases have been reported in 184 schools. Of those, 237 have been staff members and 126 have been students.

Since schools began operating in the hybrid mode on Sept. 8, 244 cases have been reported in 148 schools, including 154 staff members and 90 students.

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