artdirector@sfreporter.com
COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 2,514 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 361,629; DOH has designated 313,274 of those cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 923 new cases, followed by Sandoval County with 182 and McKinley County with 174. Santa Fe County had 137 cases.
According to the state’s most recent vaccination case report from Jan. 3, over the last four weeks, 66.4% of COVID-19 cases have been among those who are not vaccinated, as have 83.6% of hospitalizations and 88.1% of deaths.
The state also announced 36 additional deaths, 24 of them recent; there have now been 5,933 total fatalities statewide.
As of yesterday, 497 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently, 89% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 75.9% are fully vaccinated. Among that demographic, 35.7% have had a booster shot. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 66.9% of people have had at least one dose and 57.3% are fully inoculated. Among children ages 5-11, 28.5% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 17.3% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 85.7% are fully vaccinated.
New Mexicans can register for a COVID-19 vaccine here, schedule a COVID-19 vaccine booster here and view a public calendar for vaccine availability here. Parents can add dependents to their vaccine profiles here.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
As Omicron grows in NM, officials hope for more mild cases
The state’s leading health official says New Mexico should expect to see rising COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks at a rate that may surpass previous highs from November, 2020, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant expected to comprise 100% of the cases here within weeks. In a weekly news conference yesterday afternoon, Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said officials believe Omicron already accounts for approximately 50% to 60% of cases (the state is able to calculate the presence of the variant through PCR diagnostics in advance of its genomic sequencing, which has several weeks delay and only sequences small samples). “Omicron is here,” Scrase said. “It’s serious.” But early evidence indicates the variant may produce less serious illness, leading to fewer hospitalizations and deaths. “That is something we’re hanging onto for dear life,” Scrase noted, “because that’s the only thing that can save our hospital situation.” Scrase also reviewed the state’s current and limited supplies for oral and monoclonal antibody treatments.
Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Laura Parajón explicated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recently changed guidelines for quarantine and isolation for those who have either been exposed or who have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as the CDC’s updated booster recommendations. Parajón acknowledged the current scarcity of tests, but said DOH is working to roll out a free testing program for ZIP codes with high vulnerability, starting with 35,000 tests. Both Scrase and Parajón also reiterated that people who test positive with a home test do not require a PCR test for confirmation. The state’s NM Notify contact tracing app also will soon be adding the capacity for people to add their positive home test results manually. Officials urged residents to upgrade their masks, use the NM Notify app and to remain vigilant. “Hang in there,” Scrase said. “If death rates, if hospitalization rates drop, that means we’re on our way to learning to live with COVID. I still think we got this. The New Mexican people, they know what to do and I’m hoping we will get through what will hopefully be a relatively brief wave and go on to an even milder variant…Only time will tell. We can’t know for sure.”
Santa Fe housing costs keep rising
The median price for a home in Santa Fe surpassed half a million dollars in the fourth quarter of last year, according to data the Santa Fe Association of Realtors released yesterday. Prices rose in both the city and the county, while sales continued be stymied by limited inventory. In Santa Fe County, median single family house costs increased by 23% in the fourth quarter: from $606,500 in 2020 to $746,000. In the city, median home prices grew by 11%, from $480,000 to $535,000. That works out, for city and county combined, to a 13% increase to a $607,500 median cost for single family homes across all sectors of the area. During the same time period, county home sales dropped by 11% compared to the same quarter last year, while city home sales rose by less than 1%. According to a SAR news release, the inventory of single family homes for sale in the city and county decreased by approximately 50% and days on market for single family homes declined to 31 days. “The Santa Fe area’s 4th quarter housing market remained strong as the year ended even with a resurgence of COVID-19 cases,” Andrea Dobyns, 2022 SAR president said in a statement. “Record-breaking low inventory of housing as well as forecast increases in mortgage interest rates will continue to impact the market moving into 2022 affecting housing affordability.” Dobyns tells SFR the association is still seeing first-time buyers successfully purchase homes, but with high prices and low inventory, Santa Fe’s housing market is straining an already tight rental market.
NM, nation mark 2021 Capitol attack
One year ago today, protesters swarmed the US Capitol as Congress prepared to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral win. The mayhem and violence that ensued remains under investigation, with the US Justice Department continuing to file charges against participants (including four people from New Mexico). The division and rhetoric underpinning the attack also continue to play a role in contemporary politics, with Biden expected to make a speech on today’s anniversary that accuses Donald Trump of posing an ongoing threat to democracy. New Mexico’s Democratic federal lawmakers marked the anniversary by voicing support for voting rights legislation. US Sen. Ben Ray Luján, in a news conference yesterday, called for Congress to pass Freedom to Vote, John Lewis Voting Rights and Protecting our Democracy acts, and connected the bills to last year’s attacks. US Sen. Martin Heinrich issued a statement noting: “What we saw on January 6th was a destruction of the shared truth that democracy relies on. We can only have a democracy if we can all agree to live by the results of our elections, and we accept the math. The Big Lie that Donald Trump created was all about him trying to hold power for himself. But what is even more dangerous is that it created this incredible and widespread distrust of fact and truth.” Heinrich goes on to say “it’s clear that we must protect the rights of all lawful Americans to vote. States like New Mexico have shown that making it easier to vote and increasing election security can go hand in hand.” US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández recalled to the Albuquerque Journal being taken to a small room with no windows at the Capitol as the protesters stormed the building. “We were going back in to certify the election,” Leger Fernández says. “That’s a very important part as we reflect back on the one-year anniversary. Our resolve. Use (Jan. 6) to strengthen our democracy.”
Listen up
Got pet-related questions? Send them to PetChat@SantaFe.com and perhaps you will hear them answered on the SantaFe.com’s weekly pet-related podcast. Hosted by by Murad Kirdar, public information officer from the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society, and Bobbi Heller, executive director of Felines & Friends New Mexico, the show delves into animal behavior, nutrition, medical care and more. On the first episode of 2022, Kirdar and Heller spend some time talking about Santa Fe Cats, managed by Feline & Friends, which offers short and long-term boarding for cats and pocket pets. The show also discusses some animal-related New Year’s resolutions. (And if you want even more pet-news, stay tuned for the forthcoming new SFR pet-advice column from Santa Fe Animal Shelter CEO Jack Hagerman).
Take it easy
TravelAwaits provides 11 reasons to spend time at three New Mexico spas. In Santa Fe, writer Janie H. Pace visits the Inn and Spa at Loretto, where among other services, one can indulge in a “Spirit of Loretto,” a series of “custom-crafted essential oil aromatherapy blends,” such as the Seaweed Lavender Ritual or try the Aches Away Ritual, in which one soaks in a CBD-infused ritual bath and then has an 80-minute full-body Custom Mindful Massage with CBD massage cream. Pace also visits Hacienda Spa at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm in Albuquerque where she receives an 80-minute Himalayan Salt Stone Massage (side note: it’s possible this writer has made poor career choices) and El Monte Sagrado in Taos, where a spa therapist performs a Sacred Staurolite treatment, “a balancing and regenerative regime utilizing the sacred stones found only around Taos.” How, one might ask? “The Fairy Crosses, twin crystals found on the staurolite, have been used as a healing tool assisting in the release of destructive habits, attaining feelings of safety and security, and stabilizing emotions.” The treatment also includes “detoxifying turquoise mud.” Pace writes: “I can’t explain the refreshing feeling I felt.”
NM’s great outdoors
Hikers will want to check out the entirety of Backpacker magazine’s roundup of the best hikes in all 50 states, but we’ll go ahead and spoil the pick for New Mexico: According to Outside magazine Senior Editor Ariella Gintzler, Lake Katherine deserves top billing. The 13-mile hike “is more than agave, cactus, and sandy arroyos,” Gintzler writes. “It’s also fringed by 12,000-foot peaks and glistening alpine lakes. Lake Katherine is one of the region’s finest, tucked into the Pecos Wilderness below the sloping, rocky flanks of Santa Fe Baldy Peak.” While some people hike or run the 13 miles in one day, Gintzler recommends camping around the lake and “if your legs are feeling spry in the morning,” summiting Baldy upon awakening. “A weekend in the alpine cool is magic in a state that’s mostly desert,” Gintzler concludes. The route for Lake Katherine begins just off the parking lot of Ski Santa Fe, which also gets a shout-out from Backpacker’s parent company, Outside, in its recent winter story on ski resorts with lift tickets less than $50. Ski Santa Fe, the story notes, has a beginner lift ticket for $42 and allows uphill access for free. (Ski Santa Fe also announced yesterday it will open the Millennium and Tesuque Peak Triple Chairs for the first time tomorrow, and approximately 70% of the upper mountain will be open.) As for Taos Ski Valley, Outside gives it its due in another winter ski story, “7 Ways Your Ski Season Is About to Get Better,” noting if one can only take one ski trip this season, make it count by going to Taos, which Outside describes as “perhaps the least corporate of the major resorts in the Rockies.” Moreover, Taos has several new offerings this season, including an exclusive three-day learning session for advanced skiers with Olympian Deb Armstrong.
Warm up
Temperatures continue to tick upward, with the National Weather Service forecasting today to be sunny with a high near 45 degrees and north wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Tomorrow may reach 50 degrees!Thanks for reading! The Word has lost track of how long she has been staring at this new high-definition photograph of Rembrandt’s painting “The Night Watch.”
