COVID-19 by the numbers
Over the weekend, New Mexico health officials announced 338 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 3,850. There were 220 new cases reported on Saturday and 118 reported on Sunday (Sunday's numbers, however, were incomplete to reporting delays from some labs). Santa Fe County had seven new reported cases on Saturday and none on Sunday, bringing the total here to 107.
With the new cases came 20 more deaths related to the disease: eight reported on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. As of yesterday, 164 people were hospitalized. The health department has designated 832 cases as recovered.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will extend the emergency measures in Gallup through noon, Thursday, May 7, as requested by Gallup Mayor Louis Bonaguidi. Those measures close all roads into Gallup, limit business hours, restrict the number of allowed in a car together and direct residents to stay at home. The emergency measures invoked under the Riot Control Act remain in place until noon the third day after becoming effective. Bonaguidi sent a letter yesterday requesting the extension.
You can read all of SFR's COVID-19 coverage here. If you've had experiences with testing or the virus, we would like to hear from you.
SFPS revises graduation plan
If the state's ban on large gatherings in response to COVID-19 has been lifted by June 19, Santa Fe Public Schools will hold an in-person graduation ceremony. That decision responded to negative feedback to the district's plan for a "hybrid" graduation ceremony, in which the five high schools would have streaming ceremonies, followed by an on-wheels Diploma Grab-and-Go photo op for graduates and their families. The district is proceeding with the hybrid plan, but also says it will accommodate students who want to wait for an in-person ceremony at a later date. Students also can choose both. "As I stated at the beginning of the pandemic, my intent has always been to give our graduating seniors an in-person graduation and an in-person prom. We are very proud of them and want to celebrate this important milestone in their lives," Superintendent Veronica García writes about the decision.
Grants pawn shop receives $60,000 fine
State police fined Papas Pawn & Gun shop in Grants $60,000 for staying open 12 days after being warned about violating the statewide emergency health order. Owner Diane Rowe also was ordered to appear in court. She says she only should have been fined after a third warning per the State Police's stated policy, but received the fine after just two warnings. Moreover, she believes the fine is "clearly just retaliation" for "standing up for my rights." Some businesses in Grants, bolstered by Mayor Martin "Modey" Hicks, have defied the orders to stay closed. The state Supreme Court last week ordered Hicks to comply with the rules. Grants, located in Cibola County, remains under the stricter guidelines eased for much of the state on Friday.
Behind bars pandemic
Today, the state Supreme Court will livestream a hearing on a petition from the Law Offices of the Public Defender, ACLU of New Mexico and the New Mexico Criminal Defense Attorneys Association seeking inmates' releases because of the COVID-19 health risks in state prisons. Jeff Proctor, who has been interviewing inmates during the pandemic for New Mexico In Depth, writes this week that the .0012% testing rate for inmates is insufficient given the potential for an outbreak behind bars.
Late last month, a Guadalupe County Correctional Facility nurse tested positive for COVID-19, the first staff member or inmate to test positive inside a New Mexico prison. The privately run facility holds inmates for the state. The court convenes at 1:30 pm, and New Mexico PBS, KNME-TV, will stream the hearing on its YouTube channel.
Listen up
Episode 55 of "Your New Mexico Government" returns to the conversation around recovery from substance use during the pandemic. It's a special episode devoted to a conversation between Executive Producer Marisa Demarco and her cousin, Orlando Watts, who went to a remote rehab before the pandemic, and then returned home after it was in full swing. "Your New Mexico Government" is a collaboration between SFR, KUNM and New Mexico PBS.
Episode 8 of the third season of SFR's "Reported" podcast reports on a food distribution initiative launched by Santa Fe Community College in partnership with World Central Kitchen, led by world famous chef and humanitarian Chef José Andrés. Developed by Robert Egger, the mayor's food security advisor, the new program aims to distribute 2,000 to 3,000 meals a day to people in Northern New Mexico.
COVID-19 couple
Since their first positive COVID-19 test on March 25, Larry and Carol Miller of Ojo Sarco have tested positive four more times and have remained quarantined for more than 50 days and counting. They have been without symptoms the whole time, but practice social-distancing from one another to avoid the possibility of re-infection. Needless to say, they've also avoided contact with anyone else. "Larry and I both realized early on that our job is educating people that being asymptomatic is real," Carol Miller told the Taos News. "You have no way to know that your body is harboring a violent criminal. I'm not spreading it to anyone; I am not going anywhere until I'm clear." It's unclear at this point whether, having tested positive for so long, either remains contagious. Their case was presented to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine's Project ECHO on April 24; the couple is scheduled for more indepth viral and antibody testing in the future.
Hunter-gatherers
While some of us have upped our grocery-shopping game for maximum efficiency, or even turned to grocery delivery, others across the country are adapting to the pandemic's impact on food security in another way: hunting. Exhibit A: David Elliott, emergency manager at Holy Cross Hospital in Taos, had never hunted large animals and doesn't own a rifle, but in January thought that elk hunting would help him feed his family. He entered the annual elk permit draw, won it, and now he's borrowing a rifle—and possibly a horse—for the hunt this November. The uptick in hunting and fishing licenses across the country comes as some meat processing plants close, and perhaps as people have more free time and less money to spend.
Spring into action
If late April/early May felt a little too early for temps in the 80s, take a deep breath. We're heading back into more spring-like digits. Today will be sunny, with a high near 73 degrees and west wind 15 to 20 mph. And right now, we're looking at high 60s to mid-70s for the rest of the week.
Thanks for reading! The Word had been awake for mere moments before encountering Star Wars annual May Fourth message.
