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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 76 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 205,134. The health department has designated 193,772 of those cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 23 new cases, followed by Rio Arriba County with 12 and Doña Ana County with nine. Santa Fe County had three new cases.
The state also announced two additional deaths, including the 151st in Santa Fe County. There have now been 4,332 fatalities. As of yesterday, 76 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently, 68.7% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 60.2% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 77.4% have had at least one dose and 68.2% are fully inoculated.
A weekly state report on COVID-19 variants of concern—classified as such by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to their higher rates of transmission, among other attributes—shows the instances of the Delta variant growing in New Mexico. Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase tells SFR health officials expect the variant, described earlier this week by Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as the country’s “greatest threat” in eliminating COVID, to constitute 70% of all cases here within the next few months.
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.
SFPD shoots downtown suspect
Santa Fe Police yesterday fatally shot one suspect and arrested another in connection with a morning shooting at De Vargas Park. According to a city news release, SFPD responded to a call about a shooting at the park at 10:07 am, pursued, located and shot the suspect. State police, which is investigating the SFPD shooting, say the armed suspect ran “into a crowded tourist area” and, during the foot pursuit, “turned towards the SFPD officers and pointed the handgun at them,” prompting the officers to fire. Nearby store employees tells SFR the suspect walked by holding a gun, but did not witness the police shooting as they were sheltering in place. Police have not yet publicly identified either the deceased suspect or the initial shooting victim—who was taken to a local hospital for treatment—but have named and arrested Kalin Addison, 20, who they say fired at least one shot at the park victim before giving the gun to the other unnamed suspect. Addison was arrested and charged with one count of attempt to commit a violent felony—murder—as well as aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence. This is the first police shooting of 2021, following just one non-fatal shooting last year.
Gov wants EPA to address PFAS
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency to include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as a listed hazardous waste. “In the absence of a federal framework, states continue to create a patchwork of regulatory standards for PFAS across the US to address these hazardous chemicals,” the governor said in a statement. “This leads to inequity in public health and environmental protections.” Last week, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney delivered comparable testimony to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. Kenney recently discussed the state’s efforts around PFAS, including clean-up of contamination at the state’s military installations, with environmental reporter Laura Paskus on New Mexico PBS’ show “Our Land.” PBS’ series, “Groundwater War,” delves even more deeply into the topic.
Oil industry rebounds, but future remains hazy
Oil and gas production in New Mexico have hit record high levels over the last few months, leading to what some lawmakers characterize as a positive, if short-term, revenue picture. Legislative Finance Committee members discussed the industry’s impact on the state during a meeting yesterday, following an update from LFC economists. Those economists report that New Mexico is the only top oil-producing state that has recovered to pre-pandemic levels of production, supported in part by a “faster-than-expected recovery in oil prices.” Nonetheless, oil markets “remain volatile” and, economists write, “as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, the state’s production outlook could change, particularly if global demand for oil and natural gas declines or if federal policy changes discourage oil and natural gas investment.” As such, economists recommend lawmakers exercise caution “incorporating future oil and gas revenue growth into recurring budgets.” The more the state relies on oil and gas in its revenue, “...that will obviously make it more difficult to adjust to those shifts in the market,” LFC economist Dawn Iglesias told legislators during yesterday’s meeting.
Listen up
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum at 6 pm tonight premiere a 10-minute film, Following Enchantment’s Line, described as drawing “inspiration from the lines, shadows and light seen across the northern New Mexico landscape which has influenced many artists throughout time.” Directed by filmmaker and artist Steven J. Yazzie (Diné/Laguna Pueblo/Anglo), the film showcases nationally renowned dancers Jock Soto (Navajo/Puerto Rican) and Harrison Coll, along with the music of classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw Nation). The program includes a panel discussion with the artists. Register here.
Stay kind, New Mexico
For reasons we remain unable to fully discern, Verizon recently teamed up with Kindness.org and commissioned what the former describes as an “academic study” on the state of kindness in the US (approximately 5,000 people were surveyed; we couldn’t find any other methodology). From this study—part of Verizon’s “A Call for Kindness” campaign—New Mexico emerged as the second kindest state, following Kentucky (we also are not sure why KOB interpreted this “news” as New Mexico “living up” to its nickname as the Land of Enchantment, as we’re pretty sure enchantment and kindness are not synonyms...but we unkindly digress). According to a news release, some of the survey takeaways include the top three kindest acts ranked by Americans: “become an organ donor for a family member”; “pull a stranger from a burning car”; and “adopt and raise a family member.” The top three kindest acts included covering a shift for a work colleague; cheering up a family member; and calling a friend to offer encouragement (FWIW, these seem more accessible than pulling a stranger from a burning car). And, reportedly, if somewhat randomly, “the average American would give up $6.40 if that meant a stranger got $10.” At any rate, we would normally not devote so much space to essentially promoting a phone company, kindness notwithstanding, but the folks at the AT&T store were recently extremely unkind to us, so there you have it.
Cherry on top
Cherry season, John Vollertsen (aka Chef Johnny Vee) writes, is short. In the June edition of New Mexico Magazine, he explains how to make the most of the three to four weeks when you’ll find this delicious and nutritious fruit (so get on it! June is almost over). Vollertsen’s tips include which varieties to try depending on your flavor profile: Sweet cherries include Bing, Rainier, Lambert, Whitegold, Stella, Blackgold and Lapins, while sour varieties, which do well in the northern part of the state, include Montmorency, Balaton and Danube. He also has advice about where to pick them and how to preserve them (bake, can or freeze, basically). As for that baking part, the story includes a sour cherry pie recipe from Cafe Pasqual’s chef/owner Katharine Kagel, which sounds doable, along with cherry pastelitos with bizcochito crust, which sounds like more of a project, albeit a worthwhile one. Too hot to bake? Vee throws in a tangy cherry-chipotle barbecue sauce likely to make you the hit of the Fourth of July barbecue.
Make it rain
Today will be slightly cooler with a high near 89 degrees (we said slightly) and, blessedly, a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, primarily after 3 pm, with continued, albeit decreasing, chances for precipitation before midnight. Relief from the heat appears in the offing as the National Weather Service currently forecasts temperatures to continue declining into the weekend.
Thanks for reading! The Word belatedly learned yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s album Blue and listened to some demos and outtakes from the album to commemorate the occasion.
