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Morning Word
COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 52 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 205,484. DOH has designated 194,474 of those cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 14 new cases, followed by Rio Arriba County with six and Santa Fe County with five, two from the 87506 ZIP code, which constituted the 10th highest number of new cases in the state.
The state also announced two additional deaths; there have now been 4,338 fatalities. As of yesterday, 75 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
The declining case numbers arrived as the health department announced what it characterized as a “significant milestone,” with more than 70% of residents 16 years and older having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; 62% are fully vaccinated. “After hitting our 60% goal, we continue to make steady progress,” Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said in a statement.
Today marks the state’s last day under the red-to-green public health law, with most restrictions lifting as of tomorrow, July 1.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here. If you’ve had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
City delays fiscal audit again
The City of Santa Fe’s 2020 fiscal year audit will be delayed again, this time by 60 days. The city informed State Auditor Brian Colón yesterday the audit will be filed at the end of August, approximately eight months late. According to a city news release, officials also informed Colón during a meeting that the Buckman Direct Diversion and Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency’s audit components for the 2020 fiscal year will be delivered to his office on June 30, 2021 (the city acts as fiscal agent to both agencies). In a statement, City Audit Committee Chairwoman Stephanie Woodruff said that while the audit was delayed, the Finance Department had been working hard “to take a prudent and methodical approach to address and clean up some long-standing issues that, honestly, go back decades. The city has implemented a new accounting system, while also designing new internal control procedures. All this has happened during the pandemic when the staff had to work remotely and experienced COVID-related absences.” Colón tells SFR he believes the city has, indeed, been working hard on the longstanding problems with its financial record-keeping. “I don’t think it’s late because no one cares,” he said. “I would rather it be late and correct than early and misrepresent where the city’s finances are. My office will continue to work with the City of Santa Fe to get them back on track so that fiscal year 2021 can be submitted on time.” The city also has committed to contracting for additional outside support to assist with its fiscal year 2021 audit. The city also was late on its 2019 and 2018 audits (both of which revealed a variety of issues with the city’s financial management).
State restores unemployment funds
The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions will receive more than $600 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to reestablish its Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and pay back the US Department of Labor loan it used for claims during the pandemic. According to DWS, the trust fund’s balance was approximately $460 million as of Jan. 27, 2020, but unemployment claims increased by more than 1,300 after the pandemic’s onset in March, with the state ultimately disbursing almost $4 billion across the state. Once the department receives the ARPA funds and pays back loans, the trust fund’s balance will again be $460 million. “We said we would replenish this fund—protecting those who are entitled to unemployment benefits now and in the future as well as protecting businesses across the state from any further pandemic-related harm—and we’ve done that,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “We should never forget how terribly hard the pandemic has been for workers and families.”
The governor has been at odds with some lawmakers over which entity has authority over $1.75 billion in ARPA funds, with House Republicans releasing a memo yesterday they claim shows “backdoor negotiations” between the governor’s office and Democratic leadership. The governor’ communications director, Tripp Stelnicki, in turn released a statement refuting Republicans’ claims: “The document the caucus distributed is not the governor’s; it was not created by this office, nor anyone or any agency in this administration. The truth is, we don’t know who it belongs to. It’s not ours.” Stelnicki goes on to say the governor has not excluded Republicans and has invited their legislative leadership to meet and discuss the topic: “The House Republican caucus is entitled to their own views—no matter how out of step with New Mexico values, no matter how wildly divorced from the reality we all live in,” Stelnicki writes, “but they are not entitled to blatant, lazy lies.”
SFNF lifts Stage 1 fire restrictions
The apparent early arrival of summer monsoons coupled with lower temperatures and increased humidity have reduced fire threats, according to officials at the Santa Fe National Forest, which will lift campfire, welding and smoking restrictions at 8 am today. The forest implemented Stage 1 fire restrictions on June 17 to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfire during extreme drought conditions, low fuel moisture levels and high fire danger. The Carson National Forest implemented Stage 1 fire restrictions at the same time and will also lift restrictions today. An SFNF news release notes the National Weather Service is forecasting “abundant monsoon moisture” with daily scattered showers and thunderstorms through this week and potentially into July, a pattern that lowers fire risk but also presents potential flash flooding, particularly in burn scars, arroyos and other low-lying areas. “We want to thank the vast majority of our visitors who have been willing to comply with fire restrictions and forego their campfires in dispersed camping areas,” Forest Supervisor Debbie Cress said in a statement. “Although much of Northern New Mexico is still in drought, recent moisture has eased the conditions that led to restrictions and decreased our fire danger. We are pleased to be able to lift the restrictions before the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend.”
Listen up
New Mexico fully reopens tomorrow, which theoretically means life can return to “normal.” But what is normal after such a year and how does one transition? The most recent episode of No More Normal tackles the complex issues of grief and transformation, with multiple perspectives weighing in on “how to carry our freshly transformed selves forward into the future.” The inquiries will continue next week with a look at ways to process grief while navigating an uncertain future. No More Normal is a collaboration between SFR, KUNM and New Mexico PBS.
Staying healthy in Los Alamos
Los Alamos County ranked as the healthiest community in the US for the second year in a row in US News and World Report’s Healthiest Communities report. The annual analysis assesses nearly 3,000 counties across 84 metrics, such as economy, population health, public safety, infrastructure and housing. While much of the gathered data predated COVID-19, Data Editor Alex Matthews tells CNN that case and vaccination rates did play a role in the rankings. “What I learned in talking to health care and public health experts is that... the type of public health infrastructure and trust in public health that you need to have for a pandemic is something you start building, not at the time of the pandemic, but 10 years earlier,” he said. Los Alamos County was the only New Mexico county in the top 500 list. The report includes a data explorer for examining various metrics through heat maps, county-level COVID-19 data and drill-down stories on issues such as equity and public safety. Santa Fe County did not rank, but had an overall score of 57.7 (compared, for example, with Los Alamos County, which had an overall score of 100).
Back to the past
In its third virtual lecture of the year, New Mexico Historic Sites presents its newest Mesa Talks—a series from Los Luceros Historic Site and Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project—at 6 pm tonight. Charles Nicholas Saenz, an associate professor of history at Adams State University, will discuss the Comanche expansion into Northern New Mexico in the 1760s and 1770s in a lecture that “seeks to understand those events as they relate to the growth of Los Luceros in the nineteenth century.” A Q & A will follow the lecture, which will stream on Facebook Live. You can also view past Mesa Talks here on topics such as the archaeology of hunting, conserving sonic heritage and a round-up of Mesa Prieta’s best petroglyphs.
Keep the umbrella at the ready
The National Weather Service forecasts likely showers and possible thunderstorms today after 9 am (a 60% chance of precipitation) on an otherwise cloudy day with a high near 68 degrees. A slight chance for overnight storms as well, and possibly even more rain tomorrow, although Thursday’s temperatures appear to be heading back into the mid to high 70s. While New Mexico, obviously, needs the rain, yesterday’s caused both flooding and evacuations in Carlsbad.
Thanks for reading! As soon as it’s hot again, The Word plans to make all 30 of these summer mocktails (not at once).
