artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 155 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 201,336. Bernalillo County had 44 new cases, followed by San Juan County with 30 and Santa Fe County with 15.
The state also announced two additional deaths, both women in their 40s who had underlying conditions and were hospitalized, one in Bernalillo County and one in Doña Ana County; there have now been 4,118 fatalities. As of yesterday, 150 people were hospitalized with COVID-19—an 18% increase from Monday.
Currently, 63.2% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 52.5% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 72.2% have had at least one dose and 60.6% are fully inoculated.
New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins, Human Services Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase, and Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart will provide a COVID-19 webinar update at 1 pm today, which will stream live on the health department’s Facebook page, and be available with a Spanish language interpreter on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s YouTube page.
Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center will be providing the Pfizer vaccine to people ages 12 through 17 from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, May 22. To participate, register through vaccineNM.org; Parents or guardians can also receive vaccines at the same time. Vaccinations for New Mexicans under age 18 require parental consent. The event will use the special event code PKIDS21.
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.
Hispanic Caucus PAC targets GOP
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political action committee has begun running a digital ad campaign targeting four Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results, including US Rep. Yvette Herrell of New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. “These four Republicans led a misinformation campaign and helped spread the ‘Big Lie’ on social media and conservative news media outlets by sowing doubt about the Presidential election results,” PAC Chairman and US Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said in a statement. “They tried to undermine our democracy and in doing so, they helped incite the insurrection.” The ads will run in both English and Spanish on Facebook. “This is an important issue for BOLD PAC because misinformation campaigns continue to target the Latino community through their use of Spanish language media,” Gallego said. The campaign launched with an ad directed at Carlos Gimenez of Florida; comparable ones about Mike Garcia of California and Beth Van Duyne of Texas also appear on Facebook.
Medical cannabis suit challenges state limits
A dispute over how much cannabis New Mexico’s medical cannabis patients can purchase and how many plants producers can grow now heads to court. State Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, filed suit on behalf of patient Jason Barker, saying in a news release that the New Mexico Department of Health and Regulation and Licensing is currently violating all medical cannabis patients’ rights under the recently enacted Cannabis Regulation Act. The suit contends everyone, including patients enrolled in the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, must be allowed to purchase 2 ounces of cannabis, 16 grams of extracts and 800 milligrams of edible cannabis at any one time once the Cannabis Regulation Act goes into effect on June 29, 2021. However, Regulation and Licensing Department Superintendent Linda Trujillo has said until commercial cannabis sales start in April 2022, medical cannabis patients will remain limited to 230 units, as defined in the medical program, in a rolling 90-day period. Moreover, as New Mexico Political Report has noted, RLD and health department officials say medical cannabis purchase limits will continue to be determined by DOH. The lawsuit also challenges existing DOH rules that cap the number of cannabis plants a producer can grow at 1,750.
All aboard
The New Mexico Rail Runner Express will resume its pre-COVID schedule on Monday, May 24—and has added weekend train service. The train has been offering limited service for approximately two months after being discontinued for close to a year. “We’ve worked side-by-side with the state in watching the current downward trend in Covid cases, and it’s given us an opportunity to ramp up our service and return to our more robust pre-pandemic schedule,” Rio Metro Regional Transit District Director Terry Doyle said in a statement. Train capacity will remain at 25% and enhanced disinfecting and cleaning protocols will continue, as will face-covering requirements for both passengers and staff members. Tickets will be available online and through the Rail Runner’s app, and starting Monday passengers can also purchase tickets with cash on the train. Find the full schedule here.
Listen up
A federal judge recently ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions exceeded the agency’s authority. Fortunately, in New Mexico, other state and local rules currently prevent evictions, but many of those will come to an end as the pandemic eases. The Line opinion panel discusses the issue on the most recent episode of New Mexico In Focus, with guests Martha Burk, political psychologist and women’s issues expert; former New Mexico House minority whip Dan Foley; and lawyer Laura Sanchez. University of New Mexico law professor Serge Martinez also delved into the advocacy work done to help keep people in their homes in a recent KUNM interview.
Not so swimmingly
Lap swimmers will be happy to learn the City of Santa Fe’s Salvador Perez Recreation Center will reopen on Friday. According to a city news release, the pool and the fitness area will operate by appointment only from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm for five hourly sessions, with 30-minute breaks between sessions so the staff can disinfect and clean. Reservations can be made by calling (505) 955-2607 between 7 am and 3 pm no more than 24 hours in advance. As for the city’s only outdoor swim spot, the Bicentennial Pool—whose existence kept some of us from losing our marbles last summer—its fate this summer remains unknown. According to a Finance Committee memo from Public Works Department Director Regina Wheeler and Recreational Division Director Gino Rinaldi, staff recently discovered Bicentennial is leaking approximately 130,000 gallons per month. According to the memo, the pool, constructed in 1976, hasn’t had any major renovations since then and will need a major remodel to address all its current issues. A quote on the price of doing so is expected at the end of June. The memo also puts forth a variety of options for the City Council, such as whether to open Bicentennial this summer with some degree of ongoing water loss in the middle of a drought and, if so, whether to provide enough staff to also keep Salvador Perez open.
Summer fixins’
Monday’s hail storm and Tuesday’s cool temps, while not unusual for Northern New Mexico spring, made summer seem that much farther away (June 20, to be exact). But Edible New Mexico’s Early Summer edition sure put us in the mood. For what? Well, to start: eating some Thai food. Edible profiles and interviews Chef Kimnath Gyallay-Pap, aka Chef Nath, who recently started serving her cuisine at Santa Fe’s new CHOMP food hall. We made a mental note to look for Kohlrabi and fennel at the Santa Fe Farmers Market in order to try out this recipe for Kohlrabi & Fennel Slaw. And we full-on bookmarked this feature on eight plant-based restaurants, which features vegan, vegetarian and healthy options around the state (we probably wouldn’t drive to Las Cruces just to sample FARMesilla’s hand-rolled sweet potato flautas with green cabbage, avocado and serrano slaw, but we sure hope to try them one of these warm days).
Mid-May blues
Today will start with patchy fog before 9 am, followed by a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Otherwise, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 72 degrees and north wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Thanks for reading! The Word is mostly ignoring the increasing number of silly trend articles on “burn-out,” but did read this New Yorker article examining the phenomenon (which has a pretty great anecdotal lead involving The Iliad).
