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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 688 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 215,781. The health department has designated 197,786 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo County had 202 new cases, followed by Lea County with 131 and Eddy County with 68. Santa Fe County had 13 new cases.
The state also announced five additional deaths, two recent and three from more than 30 days ago; according to DOH, deaths are only reported as COVID-19 deaths once a death certificate has been issued, and some have been delayed due to insufficient information. There have now been 4,430 fatalities.
Santa Fe Public Schools yesterday reported three Capital High School students, one Gonzales Community School student and an employee at Academy for Technology and the Classics had tested positive for COVID-19. Following contact tracing, none of the cases appeared to have been contracted within SFPS, according to news releases.
Currently, 74.2% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 65.5% are fully vaccinated. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 53% have had at least one dose and 40.8% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County among adults 18 years and older, 86.1% have had at least one dose and 76.2% are fully inoculated.
The state yesterday announced the $5 million winner of its Vax 2 the Max grand prize: William Romero of Los Alamos, a Los Alamos National Laboratory design engineer, who tells KOAT he hadn’t planned to receive the vaccine until a friend of his died from COVID-19. “It hit me hard,” he told the station. “I didn’t want to risk my life and the life of my family. I didn’t want to be stubborn, so I got vaccinated.” New Mexicans remain eligible for $100 throughout August when they obtain a vaccine; the health department says New Mexico had a 25% increase in vaccinations during the first week of August when those incentives began compared with the weekly average for July, and projects that number to rise above 30% when all vaccinations are reported.
At 1 pm today, New Mexico Department of Health Acting Secretary and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase and State Epidemiologist Dr. Christine Ross will provide a COVID-19 update, which will stream live on the health department’s Facebook page, and with a Spanish language interpreter on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s YouTube page.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Hospital leaders urge vaccination
Hospital leaders yesterday sounded the alarm over rising COVID-19 cases at their already crowded facilities, urging the public to seek vaccinations. “Evidence shows COVID-19 is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Presbyterian Healthcare Services Medical Director Dr. Denise Gonzales said during a morning news conference, noting that Presbyterian facilities across the state have had a doubling of COVID-19 cases each week, with 22 patients three weeks ago now up to 90. Hospital officials also said the type of patients they are seeing has changed from the earlier part of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, when many patients were older with underlying conditions. “We are seeing younger patients with better health and well over 90% are not vaccinated,” University of New Mexico Hospital Chief Quality & Safety Officer Dr. Rohini McKee said. The health department’s most recent demographic report on COVID-19 cases—for the week ending Aug. 1, had incomplete data, but does show an uptick in the 18-34-year-old age group. While Santa Fe’s Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center did not participate in the news conference, Chief Nurse Executive Monica Leyba tells SFR the hospital also is seeing rising numbers of COVID-19 patients, along with people who put off health care during the earlier part of the pandemic. “We’re on the horizon of another surge,” Leyba said. “We know that because we’re seeing the rest of the country. We’re seeing our numbers in the rest of New Mexico go up. The pandemic is not over and what we don’t want to do is for it to get to a point to continue to infect others.”
Gov announces new CYFD secretary
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday announced that Barbara J. Vigil, who recently retired as a state Supreme Court senior justice, will replace Brian Blalock as cabinet secretary for the Children, Youth and Families Department. Prior to her election to the state Supreme Court in 2012, Vigil, 62 served as a judge in the First Judicial District Court, where she helped establish its juvenile justice boards; she also presided over Children’s Court for a decade. “I’m deeply humbled to have this incredible opportunity to continue serving our state,” Vigil said in a statement. “Throughout my career I have tried to be a passionate advocate for the children and families of New Mexico. There is so much need. And the systems that serve them, as we all know, do not always meet those needs.”
Blalock, who leaves a trail of concerns regarding a software contract, lawsuits alleging retribution against employees and potential violations of the state’s open records law through the use of encrypted messaging, described himself as “honored to have had the chance to serve the families and children of New Mexico. In close to three years, we have built structures and processes to turn CYFD around and made real progress in rebuilding the children’s behavioral health delivery system, increasing placement stability for our youth in care by prioritizing relatives and in-state community homes and establishing new safety measures so our child welfare system is intervening at the right time and in the right ways.” According to a news release, Blalock is leaving CYFD this month “to support his wife’s pursuit of new work opportunities in California.” Vigil is scheduled to begin work as secretary Oct. 1. Mariana Padilla, director of the state Children’s Cabinet, will serve as interim CYFD secretary after Blalock’s departure.
Dems pick Martínez for leadership role
The New Mexico House Democratic Caucus yesterday chose state Rep. Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, as the new House majority floor leader, replacing Sheryl Williams Stapleton, who resigned at the end of July amid a criminal investigation. Martínez, who is serving his fourth term representing District 11, will hold the position until the start of the next 60-day legislative session in January 2023.”I am honored and humbled that my colleagues have put their faith in me and selected me to serve as their new Majority Floor Leader,” Martínez said in a statement. “As a first-generation American, raised in New Mexico, I know the unique strengths of our communities and the challenges they face. I look forward to the increased responsibility and opportunity of this role to move our caucus, Legislature and state forward in a way that’s truly representative of New Mexico’s diverse communities.” House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, described Martínez in a statement as “a champion of equality and a tireless advocate for hardworking New Mexicans across our state.” Martínez has served as chairman of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee; vice chairman of the Interim Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee; and on the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee; Rules and Order of Business Committee; and the Legislative Finance Committee.
Listen up
As New Mexico gears up for adult-use recreational cannabis sales, some might say we’ve entered the Green Rush, as myriad folks—from growers to entrepreneurs to regulators—prepare for the industry. The third season of the Growing Forward podcast kicks off as hosts Megan Kamerick and Andy Lyman spotlight the palpable excitement among attendees at the recent Cannabis Legalization Conference, and then dig into the timeline for rule-making and the issuing of licenses, as well as the varying approaches law enforcement officials plan to take.
The Nation on The Red Nation
Like many organizations, The Red Nation, based in Albuquerque, had to adapt during COVID-19, both to the concept of online organizing and to a spike in growth around the country. “We went from being a more local, very action-based, very in-person, tight community to being a group of people who were spread far and wide, who had not actually met each other,” Red Nation co-founder Melanie Yazzie (Navajo) tells The Nation magazine in a recent feature on the group. “You can’t really build real relationships with people that way.” Yazzie and her partner Nick Estes (Kul Wicasa) created The Red Nation in 2014 when they were graduate students at the University of New Mexico’s American Studies department, in the wake of three teenagers murdering two homeless Navajo men. In response, they helped form the Bordertown Violence Working Group to research attacks against Native people in New Mexican border towns. Since then, The Red Nation—which describes itself as “dedicated to the liberation of Native peoples from capitalism and colonialism,” has “led efforts to remove racist monuments, protest police brutality and educate readers and listeners through regular podcasts and new publications,” the Nation writes. “But what it has brought to leftist organizing is its commitment to relationships—to each other, to local communities, and to the land itself.”
Into the forest
Who knows what Spring 2022 will bring, but if spending some of it outdoors sounds good, the Santa Fe National Forest says it has about 50 job openings. The Forest Service will be accepting applications on USA Jobs Aug. 16-23, with open jobs in the SFNF for hotshots, lookouts and other fire-related positions, as well as seasonal openings in the areas of fire prevention, recreation, timber, customer service and more. According to a news release, generally, each forest will make selections in October of 2021, and successful applicants must submit fingerprints and consent to background investigations. Seasonal employees generally work from mid-March through September. More information about Forest Service seasonal positions in New Mexico is available on the Spring 2022 Southwestern Region Temporary Outreach Notice.
Fire and rain
We kinda, sorta maybe had a little rain yesterday and today has the same hopeful, albeit prevaricating, vibe. Or, to put it in meteorological terms, the National Weather Service forecasts a 30% chance for precipitation via scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3 pm on an otherwise mostly sunny day. Look for a high temperature near 87 degrees and northwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
The New Mexico Health and Environment departments yesterday reported smoke from California wildfires is affecting the air quality in the state’s metropolitan areas (by which they mean Las Cruces and Albuquerque), which can “experience poorer air quality as a compounding effect of the wildfire smoke and urban factors producing ground-level ozone.” You’ll find tips on protecting your health on smoky days here.
It’s currently too dark out to say what Santa Fe’s air quality is like at the moment, however, the Santa Fe National Forest yesterday reported a new fire, the Sarca Fire, in the Pecos Wilderness—less than an acre in size as of last night, located approximately 8 air miles southeast of Chimayo. Smoke may be visible from Española, Chimayo and Truchas.
Thanks for reading! Since the state’s incoming Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus just declared this the “Year of Literacy,” The Word thought she’d share LitHub’s weekly book recs.
