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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials on Friday reported 982 COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 268,891. DOH has designated 238,146 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo County had 228 new cases, followed by San Juan County with 167 and Doña Ana County with 99. Santa Fe County had 35 cases.
The state also announced 14 additional deaths, 13 of them recent; there have now been 4,987 fatalities. As of Friday, 352 people were hospitalized with COVID-19—27 fewer than the day prior. DOH is expected to provide a three-day update on cases, deaths and hospitalizations this afternoon.
Currently, 81.4% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 72% are fully vaccinated. Among that demographic, 6.5% have had a booster shot. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 53.8% people have had at least one dose and 62.2% are fully inoculated. In Santa Fe County, among those 18 years and older, 92.3% have had at least one dose and 82% are fully vaccinated.
DOH released guidelines on Friday for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for prior recipients of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, authorized for boosters by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Thursday. Recipients of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may now receive boosters after six months or more after completiing their initial series if they: are 65 years and older; 18 years or older and live in long-term care settings; 18 years or older and have underlying medical conditions; 18 years or older an work or live in high-risk settings. For New Mexicans who received the J & J vaccine, booster shots are also recommended for those who are 18 and older and who were vaccinated two or more months ago.
In a news release, DOH said New Mexico residents are encouraged to schedule their primary and booster shots with their primary care physicians, and can also do so through the statewide vaccine registration system. “Mix and match” booster scheduling will likely be available this week.
Meanwhile, the Food & Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow, Oct. 26, to discuss emergency use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor on COVID-19, said yesterday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos that authorization, which will need both FDA and CDC agreement, could come as early as the first two weeks of November.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Fallout continues following tragic film set shooting
“This moment has shaken all of us to the very core,” IATSE Local 480 President Liz Pecos said Saturday night, as hundreds of people from New Mexico’s film community gathered in Albuquerque to pay tribute to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, killed Oct. 21 on the set of Rust. According to one of two search warrants, Assistant Director Dave Halls retrieved a “prop gun” from a rolling cart with three weapons and, believing it contained no live ammo, handed it to actor Alec Baldwin and shouted “cold gun.” Moments later, Baldwin fired a shot that ultimately killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, who has since been released from the hospital and describes himself as “gutted” by Hutchins’ death. Souza also provided a statement on Friday to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office, included in search warrant documents, confirming the events leading up to the shooting.
Since the shooting, multiple reports have emerged alleging prior safety concerns on the Rust set, including at least one prior instance of a weapon misfiring, and walkouts by several members of the camera crew just hours before the fatal incident (events also conveyed by a crew member to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department). One crew member, prop maker and licensed pyro-technician Maggie Goll, has said in a statement she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s Into the Dark series in 2019 regarding concerns over assistant director Halls’ behavior on set, and told the Associated Press that Halls had previously disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics. The LA Times reported yesterday that a gaffer from the film set, Serge Svetnoy, who identified himself as a friend of Hutchins who had worked with her on numerous films, posted a long message on his Facebook page casting blame for the incident on the film’s producers and 24-year-old armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed. Several other unnamed sources also have come forward with allegations about Reed’s role in the shooting, and told the Daily Beast shooting temporarily halted on a previous film, The Old Way, after Reed handed a gun to an 11-year-old actor without checking it first. However, The LA Times also reported that prop master Jeffrey W. Crow has defended Reed—and expressed shock this happened on her watch. Crow says he was initially skeptical of Reed when she was hired but those concerns were put to rest after he worked with her. “Working with Hannah, I’m surprised that any of this happened under her watch. She was without a lot of experience, but coming from her family lineage, I thought she was exceptional, professional, and I thought she had—I still think she has—many years of an amazing career ahead of her.” (Reed’s father, Thell Reed, is a prominent armorer).
Overall, the tragic incident has raised numerous questions about gun safety protocol on film sets and has sparked a call to ban real guns from use. First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies on Friday said the investigation remains in a preliminary stage and it remains to be seen if charges will be filed. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office announced yesterday it will hold a news conference regarding the incident on Oct. 27.
In the 505
As of yesterday, New Mexicans must add an area code when placing calls in-state—even local calls. Ten-digit dialing is in effect for both of New Mexico’s area codes (and 82 other area codes in the US), according to the Northern American Numbering Plan Administrator. Now, “calls dialed with only seven digits may not be completed, and a recording may inform you that your call cannot be completed as dialed,” New Mexico state officials said Friday in a statement. FYI, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and most of Northern New Mexico use the 505 area code, whereas southern and eastern New Mexico use 575. The change comes to areas codes where some phone numbers use 988 prefixes, following the Federal Communications Commission’s decision last year to use 988 as a three-digit abbreviated dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. “It’s a minor inconvenience to reprogram the area code 505 or 575 in our phones but it will make a huge difference if it will save a life and someone can call 988 when they’re having a mental health crisis,” Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase told the Associated Press.
NM unemployment drops
New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 6.9% last month, according to recently released data from the Department of Workforce Solutions, a decrease from 7.2% in August and 8.6% last year. New Mexico’s unemployment rate, nonetheless, remains well above a national rate of 4.8%‚ which also represented a decline from 5.2% and 7.8% in August and in September 2020, respectively. September’s figures reportedly represent the first time New Mexico’s unemployment rate has dropped below 7% since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Seven industries reported job growth in the last year, with the largest being the leisure and hospitality sector, which gained 13,700 jobs—or 17.6%. Professional and business services employment grew by 5,800 jobs, or 5.5%; trade, transportation and utilities reported 3,800 new jobs, a 2.9% growth. Overall, all the job growth came from the private sector, which was up 30,200 jobs, or 5%, compared with the public sector, which was down 4,400 jobs, or 2.5%.
Listen up
In his latest book, The Trail to Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss, the third in a trilogy, New Mexico author and conservationist William deBuys chronicles his travels in Nepal, where he joined extended medical expeditions seeking solace and “to find a constructive way of living with the discouraging implications of what he had learned about the diminishing chances of reversing the damage humans have done to Earth.” deBuys talks about the hope he found on his travels with New Mexico PBS correspondent Laura Paskus on the most recent episode of “Our Land.”
New Mexico stars in film industry
The New York Times examines New Mexico’s transformation into “one of the country’s most coveted production hubs,” largely thanks to Netflix and NBCUniversal. “Coming out of the pandemic, studios are looking to create again,” Ivan Wiener, a former assistant to the actor Dennis Hopper who operates a concierge service at the Albuquerque airport for actors and executives from Netflix and other studios, tells Times’ reporter Simon Romero. “Albuquerque seems to be the best place to do that right now.” Alec Baldwin’s tragic shooting on set last week, Romero writes, “has drawn attention to New Mexico’s emergence as a production hub where streaming giants, including Netflix and NBCUniversal, are ramping up investments.” Film industry growth here reflects the state’s ongoing efforts to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on the oil and gas industry. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has been breaking its own records for film and TV production spending: approximately $623 million in the fiscal year from July 2020 to July 2021, according to the New Mexico Film Office. Netflix and NBCUniversal are major factors in the growth, with the former committing $2 billion in spending and expanded operations, and NBCUniversal opening an 80,000-square-foot production studio last summer. The state’s tax incentives for the industry have proven effective, but have also sparked budget warnings about the high cost of tax credit payouts by the state.
Santa Fe remains popular
If Santa Fe’s tourism season appears to have become never-ending, next year may offer no respite. Santa Fe ranks third on a Forbes magazine compilation of the 22 best places to travel in 2022, according to an “exclusive” survey from agents at Ovation Travel Group. Santa Fe, one of just two US spots on the list (the other, California’s Napa Valley, comes in at #15), warrants a visit in part due to its status as “one of the most historically significant cities in North America.” Moreover, Jessica Levy, “a luxury travel consultant” at Ovation Travel Group, says, “with a historic downtown, art galleries, Native American culture and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Santa Fe has much to offer any traveler.” As such, Forbes recommends Santa Fe for “couples, multigenerational families and groups of friends,” and specifically endorses visiting the Santa Fe Opera and Bishop’s Lodge (recently granted a new owner courtesy of a US Bankruptcy Court). While you’re here, Lonely Planet once again weighs in on Ye Olde City Different with a roundup of the city’s three best parks: the Plaza, Cathedral Park, Railyard Park and Shidoni Gallery, which Lonely Planet notes, “isn’t technically a park and not technically in Santa Fe” (“technically,” it’s in Tesuque...which “technically” is in Santa Fe County).
Get it while you can
The National Weather Service claims Santa Fe will have a high of 74 degrees today amid sunny skies and northeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Tomorrow, however, temperatures will plummet to a high near 59 degrees and, as of now, we have a teensy chance to see some rain. Fear not, it should start to creep back into the 60s later in the week.
Thanks for reading! The Word is jealous of Singapore’s otter mania.
