Second person dies of COVID-19 in New Mexico

Mar. 29--The Governor's Office reported on Saturday a second death linked to COVID-19.

A Bernalillo County man in his 80s with chronic underlying health conditions died Friday, according to a news release from the Governor's Office. He was hospitalized prior to his death.

The number of people in New Mexico who have tested positive for the virus increased to 208, with 17 more cases Saturday.

The virus has hospitalized 19 people in the state, up from 17 Friday.

The New Mexico Department of Health said 26 people have recovered.

No new cases were reported in Santa Fe County, which had a total of 30.

The state's most populous county, Bernalillo, added 11 cases for a total of 92; Chaves County added three for a total of seven; Doña Ana County added one case for a total of 17; San Juan County had an additional case for a total of 18; and Eddy County had one new case for a total of three.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Workforce Solutions announced Saturday that an additional 62,000 self-employed workers in New Mexico can file for unemployment insurance benefits as part of the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus bill.

Independent contractors, self-employed workers and so-called gig economy workers were previously ineligible for temporary financial assistance from the state but will be entitled to federally funded pandemic unemployment assistance.

A new call-in system will start Monday for the Unemployment Insurance Operations Center (877-664-6984).

Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley asked that people eligible for benefits wait to call because the department is waiting on guidance for administering the benefits.

"In short, you can't just turn on a switch and make these things happen," McCamley said.

McCamley said the department has received tens of thousands of calls in the past few weeks. To reduce call volume, he asked people to call on certain days based on the last digit of their Social Security number.

He said the best way to file an unemployment claim is through the online portal at jobs.state.nm.us.

Before COVID-19, unemployment insurance from the state required recipients to actively search for work. But the department will waive job searching requirements for at least the next four weeks.

The state's initial unemployment claims through Thursday nearly doubled over the previous week, reaching 31,849 in just four days, according to unofficial figures released Friday by Workforce Solutions.

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