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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 1,844 new COVID-19 cases, an approximate 31% increase from the day prior. The new cases bring the statewide total so far to 497,570; DOH has designated 366,955 of those cases as recovered. The statewide test positivity rate on a seven-day rolling average declined slightly from 20.4% to 19.8%, although Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said during a weekly COVID-19 update yesterday that the test positivity rate is no longer a meaningful data point given the preponderance of home testing, and that there is no specific target in place, just lower is better. The health department has added the capacity for New Mexicans to self-report positive COVID-19 tests.
Bernalillo County had 475 cases, followed by Doña Ana County with 275 and Sandoval County with 153. Santa Fe County had 98 new cases.
According to a revamped weekly vaccine report that now includes data on booster shots, between Feb. 1-7, 63.3% of COVID-19 cases were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 28.7% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 8% of breakthrough cases were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. As for hospitalizations, 81.3% were among those who did not start or complete a vaccination series; 16.4% were for those who had completed their primary series but were un-boosted; and 2.3% of hospitalizations were among people who were fully vaccinated and boosted. Those percentages shift to 88.5%, 10.9% and 0.7% for fatalities.
The state also reported 36 additional deaths yesterday, 33 of them recent, including two from Santa Fe County: a male in his 70s who had underlying conditions and a female in her 80s who had been hospitalized. Santa Fe County has now had 239 fatalities; there have been 6,597 statewide. As of yesterday, 569 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, 24 fewer than the day before.
Currently, 91.5% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.5% have completed their primary series. Among the same demographic, 42.8% have had a booster shot and 63.7% of all eligible New Mexicans have received one (with a breakdown viewable in the slide below). In the 12-17-year-old age group, 70.5% of people have had at least one dose and 60% have completed their primary series. Among children ages 5-11, 36.8% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 26.2% have completed their primary series. In Santa Fe County, 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 86.5% have completed their primary series.
New Mexicans can register for a COVID-19 vaccine here, schedule a COVID-19 vaccine booster here and view a public calendar for vaccine availability here. Parents can add dependents to their vaccine profiles here. You can read the guidelines for quarantine and isolation here.
You can order free at-home COVID-19 tests here and find other testing options at findatestnm.org. New Mexicans living in ZIP codes disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 may be eligible for five free tests through Accesscovidtest.org. The health department is offering drive-through PCR testing through Feb. 21; to find an appointment (recommended only for people with symptoms), register here.
The state also is encouraging people who test positive for COVID-19 to seek treatments. In a news release issued yesterday, DOH said in the last two weeks, less than 19% of the state’s oral treatments—Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+)—had been used. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Former Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales dies
News of Javier Gonzales’ death yesterday struck hard in Santa Fe, prompting remembrances and outpourings of love for a man who made an outsized impact on Santa Fe through his role as a mayor, political leader and community member. Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center announced Gonzales, 55, had succumbed to cancer less than two years following his diagnosis of stage four cancer; Gonzales worked as the vice president and chief development officer for the hospital’s foundation. His most prominent political role as mayor followed two terms on the Santa Fe County Commission, from 1995 to 2002, and a stint as chairman of the state Democratic Party from 2009 to 2013. Prior to announcing his run for mayor, Gonzales came out as gay publicly in a blog post embracing his sexual identity and faith in the Santa Fe community, writing at the time: “Our very existence as a community is proof that we are better when we value and accept one another for who we are without judgment.” His death hit Santa Fe and New Mexico hard, with leaders including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, House Speaker Brian Egolf and Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber, among dozens and dozens of others from all corners of the city, issuing statements expressing their grief. “Santa Fe has lost a home-grown, home-town hero,” Webber said. “Mayor Gonzales was a beloved community member, a devoted community servant and a visionary community leader. He was a true son of Santa Fe, the son of a former mayor and a dedicated and loving father. He and his whole family have done so much for our community and given so much to our community. He loved Santa Fe and Santa Fe loved him back.”
DOH: Hospitals still in crisis, mask mandate remains
With hospitals still in crisis, New Mexico’s mask mandate remains in place for now, Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said yesterday during a weekly COVID-19 briefing. Scrase said his email on Tuesday—in the wake of announcements that some states have announced plans to drop their mask requirements—had been “brimming” with “demands” for the state to eliminate its mask mandate, which is in place at least until March 4 under the state’s current public health order. In response, Scrase provided a “fact check” that some of states won’t actually rescind their mask mandates until later this month and well into March. More to the point, he said, New Mexico hospital leaders aren’t asking for an end to the mask mandate because the state’s hospitals remain in crisis. “We don’t really make decisions in New Mexico for New Mexicans based on what other people are doing in other states,” he said. “No one wants to end it more than I do, but we have to use the science and the data we have for New Mexico.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masks for people living in areas with high community transmission, which is all of New Mexico, according to the health department’s most recent report on community transmission. “I think we are about to enter a transition,” Scrase said. “Believe me, the governor and I and everyone is just as eager as we could be to not have mandates. But we want to protect kids, the vulnerable and our hospitals right now. As soon as we get out of this, I think you’ll see a lot more change coming down the road…as our data we have on New Mexicans and not people in other states tells us the time is right.”
Crime bills remain in play at Legislature
State Rep. Marian Matthews, D- Albuquerque, yesterday offered a revamped version of a controversial bill that would amend the state’s pre-trial detention system as the state Legislature edges closer to its Feb. 17 end date. The Albuquerque Journal reports Matthews’ revised version of House Bill 5 would focus on ankle-monitor data of defendants released from custody as they await trial and require the pretrial division of the judiciary to monitor their locations. The House Judiciary Committee passed the revised bill 10-2 vote; it now heads to the full House and, if approved, to the Senate. Matthews told the Journal it was clear not enough time remained in the session to resolve the concerns and questions surrounding her original bill, which would have shifted the burden from prosecutors to defendants accused of violent crimes to prove they warranted the right to await trial outside of incarceration. In interviews with news media, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, however, says she’s not giving up. In a news statement, the governor’s office said she, Attorney General Hector Balderas and other state public safety leadership met yesterday with Nicole Chavez and Angel Alire, both mothers of sons who were killed in Albuquerque. “Meaningful action that keeps violent offenders off New Mexico streets is worth fighting for, and we can’t give up—I’m not giving up,” the governor said in a statement. “I am deeply troubled and frustrated by the Legislature’s reluctance to take meaningful action—and New Mexicans should be outraged. No one in this state can deny that crime is an issue of utmost importance—New Mexicans need legislators to confront the circumstances before us. Every New Mexican has a right to be safe in their communities, and I’m going to stay the course. New Mexico lives are in the balance—the time to act is now.”
Listen up
We’re in the midst of National School Counseling Week and, as such, on the most recent episode of the To Your Health podcast, host Elizabeth Carovillano talks with school counselors Amy Reich from Santa Fe Prep and Danielle Groetzinger from Nava Elementary about the mental health and wellbeing of children and families. The episode also features Team Builders Behavioral Health’s Chief Clinical Operations Officer Omar Vega, a licensed school psychologist with a specialty in bilingual education and school neuropsychology.
Santa Fe 💕💕💕
Liveability.com lists Santa Fe as New Mexico’s most romantic city (take that Hobbs!), describing Santa Fe “as a lot more laid back” than Albuquerque, “brimming with vibrant and varying cultures” and a place that is “breathtakingly stunning, peaceful yet never dull and socially diverse and rich.” Happy Valentine’s Day to us! Travel Noire also includes Santa Fe on its list of “25 Last Minute Vacation Ideas For Black Singles Who Are Over Valentine’s Day,” ranking us at #15 (right behind New Orleans, but ahead of Mexico), recommending visitors roll a self-care Sunday into “Made for Me Monday” at Ten Thousand Waves (where, by the way, restaurant Izanami is offering a 20% discount on any bottle of saki or wine through the end of February). Speaking of food and romance, OpenTable’s 100 most romantic restaurants in the US includes one Santa Fe spot: Geronimo. Of course Valentine’s Day isn’t just about food. Be sure to grab SFR’s Love & Sex special issue, out on the streets now (and the internet) for stories about broken hearts, post-pandemic love and other romance-adjacent tales.
New NMAI director talks past, future
The Washington Post interiewed incoming National Museum of the American Indian Director Cynthia Chavez Lamar of San Felipe Pueblo (with Hopi, Tewa and Navajo ancestry), the first Native American woman to lead a Smithsonian museum, who begins her new job on Feb. 14. In addition to her previous positions with NMAI, Chavez Lamar also served as director of the Indian Arts Research Center at Santa Fe’s School for Advanced Research; as director of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque; and as a former trustee to the Institute of American Indian Arts. In discussing the issue of prejudice and stereotyping of Native Americans through mascots, Chavez Lamar spoke with the Post about the contrast between growing up in New Mexico versus living in Virginia. As a child, she says, she attended San Felipe’s elementary school until fourth grade and then went to public school; for both, “native kids were my schoolmates…I didn’t fully experience the feeling of invisibility because native people were all around me in my everyday existence. Today, I don’t have that experience living in Alexandria. I see representations of Indigenous people as symbols or images, but they don’t resonate because they don’t match what I know about Indigenous people, who they are, what they are like in all their complexity.” One of NMAI’s roles, she notes, “is to provide perspectives and interpretations…I think it’s really significant when you hear directly from Indigenous people who are able to convey how hurtful this might be and for what reasons.”
Winter warm up
Today will be sunny with a high near 49 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. The National Weather Service forecasts temps heading into the low 50s tomorrow, but we still have a chance for snow late Friday night.
Thanks for reading! The Word looks forward to seeing a moonbow someday.
