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Progress on Hermits Peak Fire, evacuations lifted in Ruidoso
Fire managers yesterday reported continued progress on the Hermits Peak Fire near Las Vegas, with 46% containment on the fire, which is at 7,514 acres. According to a news release from the Southwest Area Incident Command, firefighters since Friday “have continued to patrol the perimeter to ensure that the fire stays within the current footprint,” and while fire activity has moderated due to suppression efforts, “the wind and weather conditions that support extreme fire behavior persist. As such, “all resources are focused on suppressing the Hermits Peak Fire as quickly and safely as possible and protecting nearby communities.” A red flag warning remained in effect as of yesterday, while the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office continued to lift some evacuation orders. Firefighters and local officials will hold an online community meeting at 6 pm this evening to provide updates and answer questions. Officials reported a new fire, the Cooks Peak Fire, yesterday afternoon, located on private land north of Ocate near the Mora and Colfax County lines. The fire is estimated at 300 acres and 0% contained, and the Mora County Sheriff’s Office has issued a precautionary evacuation order for Canada Bonita, Blatman Ranch and one other residence (there was no immediate threat to those homes at the time of reporting). Fire managers, the state police, the Village of Ruidoso and Lincoln County officials lifted all evacuation orders for The McBride Fire yesterday, last reported as 80% contained and 6,159 acres. Evacuations also were lifted for the Nogal Fire in the Lincoln National Forest, which is 42% contained and 433 acres. The Valencia County Fire Department reports the Big Hole Fire is 80% contained; it was last estimated at 890 acres.
DOH renews COVID-19 public health order
On Friday, the state health department renewed through at least May 16 the current COVID-19 public health order, which keeps in place face covering requirements at hospitals and other health facilities and rapid response reporting requirements by businesses, among other conditions. A DOH news release notes while COVID-19 cases have dropped since March and hospitalizations continue to be low, the most recent two-week data shows the new Omicron BA.2 variant comprises 22.1% of cases in New Mexico and continues to expand across the state. “We know being up-to-date on vaccines is the best way to safeguard ourselves, our families and our communities and reduce the risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization and death from COVID-19,” Acting DOH Secretary Dr. David Scrase said in a statement. “If you need your first, second, third or fourth vaccine dose, please get vaccinated—this is especially important for more socially vulnerable individuals and communities, where the risk of severe disease is more than doubled.” The news release says “the vast majority of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths occur among the small number of unvaccinated New Mexicans.”
According to the most recent DOH vaccination report, close to 60% of hospitalizations in the last month have been among those who are unvaccinated, as were close to 57% of deaths. In response to a question from SFR about whether it was accurate to describe those percentages as “the vast majority,” Health Equity Communications Manager Katy Diffendorfer wrote, via email: “What was meant was that severe outcomes associated with COVID (including hospitalization / ventilation & death) continue to be largely attributed to unvaccinated individuals. While the vaccinated do contract COVID and have breakthrough cases, we are not seeing a rise in hospitalization and death associated with those individuals. So we are continuing to encourage everyone to consider primary series and boosters, despite lower case counts.” Over the last month, 39.3% of COVID-19 cases were among the unvaccinated, 22.1% were among those who had completed the series but not received a booster; and 38.6% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted.
Meow Wolf union approves contract
The Meow Wolf Workers Collective announced on Friday its members “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of a four-year contract whose provisions include: pay increases, layoff protection and roll-over for paid time off for its members, as well as doubled paid parental leave and increased 401k matching that will be extended to all employees, the union says. “This contract will change the lives of Meow Wolf workers,” bargaining committee member and worker Leo Brown said in a statement. “We’re excited about what this means for the future of Meow Wolf.” A statement from Meow Wolf provided to SFR on Friday reads: “We are proud of our collective efforts and the end result. Working together, we arrived at solutions that will make our entire company stronger as we continue to build a positive culture across all of Meow Wolf. We look forward to our collective future.”
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 154; 519,833 total cases
Deaths: 10; Santa Fe County has had 270 total deaths; there have been 7,410 total fatalities statewide. Hospitalizations: 51; Patients on ventilators: three
Community transmission: According to the health department’s community transmission report for the two-week period of March 29 through April 11, only DeBaca County has low transmission. Twenty-one counties have moderate transmission; nine counties, including Santa Fe County, have substantial transmission; and two have high rates of transmission: Harding and Hidalgo. According to the report, Santa Fe County had 180 new cases during that two-week period and has a daily case per 100,000 population of 8.6. According to the most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “community levels” tracking system—which uses case rates along with two hospital metrics in combination to determine the state of the virus on a county level—all 33 of New Mexico’s counties currently have “green”—aka low—levels. The CDC updates its map on Thursdays.
Vaccinations: 91.1% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 77.9% have completed their primary series; 46.3% of adults 18 years and older have had a booster shot; 12-17-year-old age group: 71.2% of people have had at least one dose and 61.7% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 39.4% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 31.6% have completed their primary. Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87.6% have completed their primary series.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. 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.
Listen up
The most recent episode of the Las Cruces Sun-News podcast, The Reporter’s Notebook, focuses on The McBride Fire, which has caused so much devastation and loss of life in Ruidoso (evacuations were lifted yesterday). Host Damien Willis talks with reporter Justin Garcia, who covers breaking news and public safety for the newspaper, as well as Alexander Meditz, a Ruidoso resident who was forced to evacuate and later returned to the fire-zone to help other residents.
Grizzly Bear frontman on life in Santa Fe
Once the guitarist and frontman for acclaimed Brooklyn-born indie band Grizzly Bear, Daniel Rossen is now a Santa Fe resident who has just put out his debut solo album, You Belong There. The Guardian spoke with Rossen about his struggles in recent years with making new music, and how moving to Santa Fe, where his wife Amelia Bauer grew up, helped: “I was actually able to work here in a way that I couldn’t find the focus when I was [in upstate New York, where they lived after Brooklyn].” Stereogum magazine also recently interviewed Rossen, who was on a walk during the interview, saying at one point: “Sorry, just a second. My dog just picked up a dead rabbit from the arroyo. That’s a dangerous game in New Mexico. You can pick up the plague, which my dog has done before. They still have that down here!” He also talks to Stereogum about his new life in Santa Fe: “I really love New Mexico,” Rossen says. “It’s super beautiful here. I’ve been kind of obsessed with spending time here in general.” The Stereogum interview delves deeply into Rossen’s career (with lots of music videos, including one from that time Jay-Z and Beyonce came to a Grizzly Bear show). As for what comes next, Rossen says: “All I really want is to have a decent life, something that’s relatively modest, that allows us to both continue being artists. My wife’s an artist too. We just want to be able to sustain that.”
Geometric dream house
Online product design magazine Yanko Design includes Santa Fe-based Michael Jantzen’s Folding Dream House design in its roundup of top prefab architectural designs for lovers of sustainable architecture. Translation: “Prefab architectural designs have a multitude of benefits—they keep costs down, ensure projects are more sustainable and efficient, and they also prioritize and pay attention to simplicity and modularity,” the story notes. In the case of Jantzen’s folding dream house, it “consists of two prefabricated, portable modules. Each rectangular module is envisioned mounted atop an elevated, triangular foundation that connects the home’s expandable support beams to its frame. On each facade of the Folding Dream House, Jantzen envisioned triangular overhangs and partitions as foldable panels that expand from the home’s frame.” The only downside, according to the magazine, is the folding dream house exists only in concept right now.
Is it May yet?
Santa Fe should be partly sunny today with a high near 74 degrees and east wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. The whole week looks warm and windy, according to the National Weather Service, although as of this morning, today doesn’t feature high gusts (but tomorrow does).
Thanks for reading! The Word is a new fan of Nina Coomes’ “Half Recipes” column for Catapult.
