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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 638 new COVID-19 cases between April 17 and April 19; DOH no longer reports new cases over the weekends. Bernalillo County led with 199 cases, followed by San Juan County with 85 cases and Doña Ana County with 81. Santa Fe County had 26 new cases over the three-day period.
The state also announced six additional deaths. As of yesterday, 113 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
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.
40+ can self-schedule COVID-19 vaccines
The health department announced yesterday that New Mexicans 40 years and older can now self-schedule their COVID-19 vaccines. “This has always been the goal—to provide New Mexicans as much flexibility as possible in scheduling their vaccine appointments,” Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said in a statement. “And in the coming weeks, we intend to offer self-scheduling for all New Mexicans 16 years and older.” Currently, 74.3% of New Mexicans 75 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 64.6% have been fully vaccinated. Among those 60 to 74 years old, 68.1% have had at least one dose and 48.3% have been fully vaccinated. In the age groups 16 to 59, 41.3% have had at least one dose; 25.3% are fully vaccinated. Overall, 56.4% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 38.3% are fully inoculated, according to the state’s vaccine dashboard. In Santa Fe County, 57% have had at least one dose and 36.8% are fully vaccinated. If an appointment for a vaccine isn’t immediately available, DOH says to check back again as providers continually make updates. Seniors and those with disabilities can also call 1-800-432-2080 for support with registration and scheduling.
City launches new crisis response unit
Amid national discourse about police violence, the City of Santa Fe yesterday launched a new Alternative Response Unit to respond to non-violent dispatch calls that require social and behavioral health services. A paramedic, police officer and case manager, all trained in crisis intervention, will staff the unit in a collaborative effort between the city’s fire, police and community services departments. Response by the new unit will replace ones typically involving police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. “My goal is to right-size our response model, but more importantly, connect the people we respond to with the right service,” Fire Chief Paul Babcock said in a statement. As the nation awaits a jury decision in the trial for former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, accused of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, Santa Fe Police Chief Andrew Padilla said in the news release that the new unit “represents the evolution of law enforcement and out-of-the-box thinking about community policing” and could ultimately lead toward police not responding “to basic calls for service that don’t require a law-enforcement solution, so they can focus on crime and community engagement.” The first Alternative Response Team will start May 4, 2021; pending the City Council’s approval of the Community Health and Safety Department budget, another team will be added this summer.
NM chosen for childhood hunger grant
No Kid Hungry and the American Public Human Services Association have chosen New Mexico as one of six states that will receive a technology project grant geared at reducing childhood hunger. The new initiative, according to a No Kid Hungry news release, will invest close to $2 million in the six chosen states to advance SNAP agency innovation and interagency coordination to combat childhood hunger. In the case of New Mexico, the funding will be used to “enhance the interfaces and web services” between the Humans Services Department’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and the Department of Health’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). “No child in New Mexico should go hungry,” Deputy Secretary Angela Medrano said in a news statement, “but the pandemic has created hardships for many New Mexico families.This grant will assist us by enabling two computer systems from separate departments to talk to each other and help us identify individuals in need.” According to No Kid Hungry, the selected agencies will also participate in cohort learning, sharing best practices and opportunities for policy and practice changes that reduce childhood hunger. “We know that SNAP is one of the most effective tools our nation has to feed kids, but it works hand in hand with school meals, WIC and other childhood nutrition programs,” Jillien Meier, director of the No Kid Hungry campaign, said in a statement. “This exciting new initiative will allow us to gather best practices that lead to evidence-based policy change that can reduce childhood hunger.”
New Mexico Republicans embrace Texas
New Mexico’s Republican Party will be holding its annual convention, aka “Operation Freedom,” from May 14 to 16. In Texas—Amarillo, specifically. “It was named ‘Operation Freedom’ because had we been able to have it in our own state, we would not have to travel,” GOP Executive Director Kim Skaggs told the Santa Fe New Mexican. Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson announced the convention in a recent joint news conference with NM GOP Chairman Steve Pearce, the latter of whom said the party had hoped to hold its event in Albuquerque, but “New Mexico is still shut down a lot so we weren’t sure we could get nationally renowned speakers.” Republicans then turned to Texas, Pearce said—Gov. Greg Abbott lifted mask mandates and opened businesses to 100% capacity at the start of March—and wanted to “make it a fun weekend.” Amarillo emerged “hands down” as the winning locale. The convention will be held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Amarillo Downtown, which will have its own mask mandate, which Skaggs said the party will follow. New Mexico continues to uphold a statewide mask mandate, as well as county-by-county restrictions based on COVID-19 case counts and test positivity rates. At the least restrictive level—turquoise—mass gatherings are limited to 150 people or 200 vehicles. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s press secretary, Nora Meyers Sackett, told the New Mexican the administration hopes to resume larger and safe gatherings later this year, but in the meantime “if an organization can’t be bothered to adhere to reasonable health guidelines in a pandemic, by all means, spread the virus elsewhere.”
Listen up
Littleglobe TV airs its sixth episode at 7 pm tonight, “The Garden,” described as “stories of Santa Fe emerging from winter, exploring new beginnings during this complex time.” The episode’s contributing producers include a variety of Santa Fe artists: Nuttaphol Ma, Dan Stephensen, Ehren Kee Natay, Zubair Siddiqui, Austin Ross, Ash Haywood, Nadine Oglesby, Alejandro Snodgrass, Aurora Escobedo and the multigenerational Littleglobe team. Littleglobe Executive Director Chris Jonas spoke with SFR about Littleglobe’s various initiatives, its TV series and the latest episode (one of this week’s SFR picks), saying: “We’re emerging changed. Our town has changed and Littleglobe has changed, and it is really important that we take the efforts to make sure we’re telling a broad base of complex stories.”
Brave new brunch
Everyone should venture back out into the world at their own pace, but if you’re anything like most of us, brunch will be high on your post-vaccine, late-stage pandemic (fingers crossed) to-do list. SFR Culture Editor Alex De Vore took the plunge and headed to Cafecito (922 Shoofly St., 310-0089) where, he writes, the chilaquiles with house-made tortilla chips, green chile, roasted potato and provolone over fried eggs “not only looked gorgeous, it tasted divine.” Ditto for the Breakfast the Argentinian Way: scrambled eggs with avocado and provolone slices instead of meat, a fresh croissant and a side of dulce de leche. As for that croissant, De Vore says it was the best he’d ever had (and SFR’s food newsletter The Fork took that as a challenge and went and taste-tested croissants all across Santa Fe). And Cafecito’s “bright and airy” space makes social distancing comfortable and easy. Is it Sunday yet?
Artist Begay: Art saves lives
Forbes Magazine talks with Diné (Navajo) artist Shonto Begay, whose work is on display at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian through Oct. 3. The museum describes the exhibit “Shonto Begay: Eyes of the World” as autobiographical, stating: “His paintings visually narrate his connection to the Navajo landscape, personal histories, and cosmology.” Begay tells Forbes “art saves lives,” noting that he “was what they call a generation of the walking traumas, because of the 13 boys that I grew up with very closely, there’s only three of us alive.” That personal history includes experiencing the dehumanizing US government-run Indian boarding schools. “I was a casualty,” Begay says of his time in the boarding schools. “Mentally, physically–it took a lot of lives. A sense of hopelessness. It was a brutal situation. It was a really brutal experience. I survived it and that’s why I do art. It keeps me from going to a place where I don’t want to go.”
Obligatory 4.20 news
Last week, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation for adult-use recreational cannabis in New Mexico. This week, the state is looking for people to serve on a new Cannabis Regulatory Advisory Board that will help craft rules and set policy. Lawmakers called for the board to include people from: a cannabis policy advocacy organization; a labor organization; a state or local agency; an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo. The board also wants folks who have expertise in public health; regulating commercial activity for adult-use intoxicating substances; cannabis laboratory science; small business development; water resources and other relevant areas. If you fit the bill, apply before May 3. If you want the latest on all things cannabis, be sure to check out SFR’s latest installation of the monthly Leaf Brief newsletter, which provides a wrap-up of the weed whirlwind in New Mexico over the last few weeks, as well as regional and national updates. And you can catch up on all the cannabis news you’d ever want to read at sfreporter.com/cannabis.
Nice and easy
Today looks sunny with a high near 57 degrees and southeast wind 10 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. It was, however, snowing lightly on I-25 near Raton Pass this morning.
Thanks for reading! Even though The Word has the craft skills of a small (untalented) child, she thinks she could maybe pull off this Papier-Mache Earth Day globe.
