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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 1,166 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to 279,670; the health department has designated 245,770 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo County had 272 new cases, followed by San Juan County with 176 and Doña Ana County with 103. Santa Fe County had 47 new cases.
The state also announced 12 additional deaths, nine of them recent, including the 172nd from Santa Fe County; there have now been 5,085 fatalities statewide. As of yesterday, 419 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, a 9.7% increase from the day prior.
Currently, 82.6% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 72.7% are fully vaccinated. Among that age group, 11% have had a booster shot. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 62.7% people have had at least one dose and 54.5% are fully inoculated. In Santa Fe County, 93.3% people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 82.5% are fully vaccinated.
New Mexicans can register for a COVID-19 vaccine here and check eligibility for a COVID-19 vaccine booster here.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
State approves vaccines for kids 5-11, new school testing
Following approval by federal regulators, New Mexico health officials yesterday announced children ages 5-11 are now eligible to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine; the state is encouraging parents to schedule children’s primary and booster shots with their primary care physicians or through the statewide vaccine COVID-19 vaccine registration system. Parents can also add dependents to their existing vaccine profile. During a weekly COVID-19 update yesterday, Department of Health Deputy Secretary Dr. Laura Parajón said the state expects 90,000 doses for children in three shipments and has already received the first, but urged parents to remain patient as the state waits for more vaccines to arrive. “There are some slots available right now, but we’re waiting for providers to get all their vaccine,” Parajón said. Health officials also said they plan to offer larger-scale vaccination clinics for eligible children in the coming weeks. The state has 188,866 children in that age group and will begin posting their vaccination rates next week.
Yesterday’s update also included a preview of a new state program through the Public Education Department, “Test to Stay,” which will allow unvaccinated asymptomatic students and staff who are identified as close contacts of someone with COVID-19 to use rapid testing in lieu of quarantining. “It’s a part of us moving forward with the goal we’ve had since the first day of school and that’s to provide in-person learning as much as we possibly can,” Public Education Secretary Designate Kurt Steinhaus said. Officials continue to emphasize vaccination—and encouraged all eligible New Mexicans to schedule their booster shots—as transmission rates remain high throughout the state and hospitals continue to be at breaking capacity. “The whole state is still pretty red,” Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said. “We are seeing spread everywhere...the virus is expert in a non-volitional way at spreading from person to person. Out of respect for our beleaguered health care system, where in many instances we have less resources than we do the people who need those resources, please be safe, please wear your mask—particularly indoors—please talk to your trusted health care person…about getting the vaccines and if you haven’t gotten the booster yet, this would be a really good week to sign up.”
Rust armorer lawyers allege potential sabotage
Lawyers representing Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed went on national television yesterday and suggested someone may have placed live ammunition into the box containing dummy rounds. The comments came as investigators continue probing how live ammunition made its way into the gun actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired on set, which shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded Director Joel Souza. “Why do you place that in the box labeled ‘dummies’ that the armorer is going to be pulling from?” lawyer Bowles said on Good Morning America. When asked for evidence by GMA anchor Michael Strahan, Bowles cited the presence of live ammunition in the dummy box: “We know Hannah did not put the live rounds in that box,” Bowles said. “we know the live rounds shouldn’t have been in that box, but they were. There can be very, very few explanations of why live rounds end up in a box of dummy prop ammunition on a movie set.” When asked by Today show host Savannah Guthrie who might have done such a thing, Bowles floated the possibility of disgruntled crew members: “I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, would want to prove a point, would want to say they were disgruntled or unhappy,” Bowles said. “We know that people had walked off the set the day before, and they’re unhappy. The reason they were unhappy is they were working 12 to 14 days, they were not given hotel rooms in or around the area so they had to drive back and forth an hour to Albuquerque so they’re unhappy.” Lawyer Robert Gorence said the gun itself had been left unattended for two hours on the day of the shooting—from 11 am to 1 pm—after Gutierrez Reed had prepped it. “The prop ammunition,” he said, “was in a truck, the prop truck, that was completely unattended at all times, giving someone access and opportunity.”
Out of businesses
Two local publications, Santa Fean magazine and The Essential Guide, appear to be defunct, leaving behind numerous aggrieved unpaid former contributors. Owners Kelly and Martin Haug purchased the magazines last year—along with two other local businesses— and, over time, a pattern emerged: bounced checks, missed deadlines and lack of communication. SFR interviewed a half dozen former contributors, reviewed several wage complaints filed against the couple’s businesses and other public records, plus a lawsuit filed in state District Court against the Haugs by one of the previous business owners alleging breach of contract: Jeff Pollock, who sold the Haugs his business, Santa Fe Print and Images. Pollock financed the $300,000 sale, but says payments stopped arriving and the couple defaulted on their contract with him in August. “That automatically gave me the company back,” Pollock says. “With that, I got all the debts, all the problems, all the tax issues that she didn’t take care of and pay.” He subsequently sued the couple in state District Court, seeking injunctive relief, and received a temporary restraining order last month that requires the Haugs to turn over financial documents, although they have yet to file a response. The Haugs declined to comment to SFR, although Kelly Haug responded to one email inquiry by writing: “Does the [Santa Fe Reporter] report on all businesses that go out of business or didn’t survive the pandemic?”
Listen up
SFR will join journalists from Source New Mexico, the Las Cruces Sun News and the Albuquerque Journal at 8 am today on KUNM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico program to talk Tuesday’s election. The program also wants to hear from you: Did you vote in this election? Why or why not? What issues were most important to you at the voting booth this year? Did you have any problems getting your vote cast? Email LetsTalk@KUNM.org or call in live to (505) 277-5866 to share your views. Listen in online or at 89.9 FM.
Pie time
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is just three weeks away. As far as we’re concerned, this means just one thing: pie. Food & Wine magazine also has pie on the mind and provides a roundup of 21 of the best pies to order from around the country, and a Santa Fe bakery makes the list: Food & Wine recommends Chocolate Maven for the best strawberry rhubarb pie, available both with a shiny egg wash and without for a vegan treat and featuring “a stunning lattice top crust.” As the magazine notes, Chocolate Maven “has been cooking up wholesome meals, baked goods, and crave-worthy sweet treats in Santa Fe for over 50 years” and its strawberry rhubarb pie “is made from consciously sourced ingredients, the shop’s signature pies feature plump fruits, like blueberries, blackberries, peaches, and more.” In addition to being delicious, a fruit will also give the impression that, perhaps, summer has not quite ended.
Of course, just hearing the word “pie” made us wonder if Pie Town’s Pie-O-Neer would be bringing the goods this season. ICYMI, the venerable landmark (check out these historic photos of Pie Town from the 1940s) briefly shut down after former owner Kathy Knapp closed it and put it up for sale in March, 2020. But it’s up and running again, owner Sarah Chavez tells us, and is open Thursdays through Sundays and serves a Sunday dinner to boot. Chavez says the Pie-O-Neer will also serve a Thanksgiving dinner and was just approved to ship pies across the country. Orders are rolling in locally and from all over (call (575) 772-2711 to place one). “It’s really special what’s happening,” Chavez tells SFR, “with Kathy passing the torch. It’s been just revitalizing Pie Town and, in a sense, just getting it back on the map. It’s taking a small village to produce all the pies.” As for the holidays, Chavez says they make all the traditional pies, as well as a “spin” on some of them, with recipes such as pumpkin pecan crunch and butter pecan pie. OK, we’re hungry.
Giving thanks
As long as we’re talking Thanksgiving, be sure to check out the Santa Fe Playhouse’s current production, which is all about Thanksgiving talk. One of this week’s SFR Picks, The Thanksgiving Play from Larissa FastHorse’s (Sicangu Lakota Nation) takes a satirical look at what happens when four white-passing adults decide to stage a politically-correct play for elementary school students about the first Thanksgiving. Catch it at 7:30 pm tonight and through Nov. 6 and at 2 pm Sunday, Nov. 7. In reviewing an off-Broadway production of the play in 2018, the New York Times wrote that FastHorse’s play takes “the familiar, whitewashed story of Pilgrims and Native Americans chowing down together” and gives it “a delicious roasting from expert farceurs.” In so doing, FastHorse aims “…for a takedown of American mythology—white American mythology, that is. The national narcissism, bordering on sociopathy, that could turn theft and genocide into a feel-good feast is her play’s point of entry.”
Pleasantville
Today will be similar to yesterday, with the National Weather Service forecasting sunny skies with a high near 64 degrees and east wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Thanks for reading! Against her better judgment, The Word read a story about how to “Marie Kondo” one’s workspace.
