New Mexico marks 500 deaths from COVID-19: Reopening delayed, mask-wearing to be enforced
Algernon D'AmmassaSANTA FE - Following trends in other states, especially in neighboring Arizona and Texas, New Mexico health officials announced increasing rates of COVID-19 transmission in every region of the state Wednesday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that as a result, the next phase in reopening businesses that have been closed or operating under restrictions for months will be paused and that the state would begin enforcing mask-wearing in public with $100 fines.
The announcements accompanied a grim milestone, as deaths attributed to the respiratory disease in New Mexico reached 500. The three latest deaths ranged in age from their 60s to their 80s. Two were McKinley County residents, and the third was a patient at the Princeton Place facility in Albuquerque.
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The state Department of Health announced 130 new positive tests Wednesday afternoon, bringing the aggregate total of positive tests to 12,276 out of 350,060 tests administered.
The DOH has designated 5,514 cases designated as having recovered, or 45 percent of the known cases.
On Wednesday, 127 individuals were reported hospitalized in the state, with 38 on ventilators.
State Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel reported that the DOH had doubled rapid-response testing at business sites over the past week, with the top three industries affected industries to be food service, health care and retail.
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Observing that the rate of infection was increasing throughout the state, state Human Services Secretary David Scrase said New Mexico is "not on a trajectory" to send children back to school in the fall, as anticipated.
"We're in a big surge of cases, and that means the things we did to reopen back in late May and early June were not sufficiently countered by actions we all took," Scrase said, referring to New Mexicans' compliance with public health orders to avoid social gatherings of five or more, and wearing masks that cover their noses and mouths while in public.
The state's current public health order will now extend through July 15, and Lujan Grisham held out the possibility that if the upturn in positive cases is not reversed, rolling back the previous phase of reopening businesses or further restrictions were on the table.
Meanwhile, the governor said that a 14-day mandatory quarantine for all out-of-state visitors was in force, with all business restrictions including occupancy limits remaining in place.
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Additionally, Lujan Grisham announced that mask-wearing in public would now be enforced with violators subject to a $100 fine and businesses required to enforce the requirement for customers as well as employees.
Addressing outbreaks at prison facilities in New Mexico, the governor said the state was "making headway" with federal agencies holding inmates at New Mexico facilities as well as contractors with the state corrections department to improve safety practices within the facilities.
The announcements came on the cusp of Independence Day weekend, and the governor tried to acknowledge individual resistance to government directives and anticipation for the holiday while calling for greater compliance, suggesting that future holidays plans required some sacrifice in the short-term.
What that looks like, she said, is staying home as much possible, avoiding travel outside of the state and avoiding gathering with groups of five or more.
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"If we don't get (COVID-19) back under control ... we put our healthcare system at great jeopardy, in addition to the fact that we will increase the death rate in this state, which is unconscionable," the governor said.
Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.