COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 599 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 37,896—the health department has designated 20,165 of those cases as recovered.
Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties continue to lead the surge of cases, with 154 and 136 cases, respectively. Santa Fe County had 33 new cases, and has had 1,411 cases so far, 765 of which have been designated as recovered.
The state also announced seven additional deaths—three from Santa Fe County, bringing the total number of fatalities here to 12. Curry, Eddy and Roosevelt counties also had deaths; there have now been 942 fatalities so far statewide.
As of yesterday, 205 people were hospitalized with COVID-19—22 more than the day prior. Health officials say currently 81% of the state's adult hospital beds and 71% of its ICU beds are occupied.
The health department tells SFR a "technological glitch" led its software provider to send approximately 30,000 erroneous notifications to people who had previously tested negative. "The texts were basically repeats of those prior notifications, 'you have tested negative' even though the recipients had not recently tested," NMDOH Communications Director Marisa Maez writes via email. The recipients also received emails informing them of the error.
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.
Gov announces new, stricter biz measures
With New Mexico now failing to meet five of its eight targeted gating criteria for managing COVID-19 and rising concerns about the state's hospital capacity, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday announced new stricter measures for businesses. These include a daily, public watchlist for businesses requiring two or more rapid responses in a 14-day period for employee COVID-19 cases. Businesses with four rapid responses in that time period will be required to close for 14 days. That rule goes into effect on Oct. 23. Restaurants that wish to offer indoor dining must complete the state's COVID-safe certification program by the end of the month; keep customer records for three weeks for contact tracers; and agree to spot COVID-19-testing. Additionally, retail businesses must now abide by the same 10 pm curfew in place for restaurants, and state museums and monuments will close on Friday. "We're not in a good place right now," Lujan Grisham said. "We're trending poorly and we have the ability to do something about that. If we don't do something about it, too many people will die, hospitals can't keep up and we won't be able to sustain our economic activity. The only way to do those three things productively is to triple down on our efforts. We're in this all together. Let's re-crush this virus."
Meow Wolf employees approve union
After a tense month and a half of back-and-forth between employees attempting to unionize, company management standing in vocal opposition and a late-game group of anti-union employees popping up, eligible employees of arts corporation Meow Wolf voted in favor of unionizing, with results made public yesterday. As a result, Meow Wolf will now recognize the Meow Wolf Workers Collective as an affiliate of the Communication Workers of America. "We are feeling very good," union rep Michael Wilson tells SFR. "It's been a lot of work for the better part of the last 10 months, and several people have been working essentially a part-time job putting this all together. The conversation has been great, but also rough at times; I think we're all tired and happy, and we're ready for a break." Next steps for the nascent bargaining unit will be "hashing out what our bylaws are going to be, how we're going to govern ourselves, elect positions, name positions," Wilson says. The second step will be determining what employees want in their contracts with the company.
Police say obelisk investigation ongoing
Santa Fe Police have yet to release any public records related to the arrests of Dylan Wrobel and Sean Sunderland just before protesters toppled the Plaza obelisk on Oct. 12. According to Santa Fe police spokesman Greg Gurulé, speaking with the Santa Fe New Mexican, all the reports and videos will assembled and released together. Police Chief Andrew Padilla maintains police only used pepper spray on the two men; however, another protester says police used force resulting in a broken finger and a news release from a "coalition of Tewa and Indigenous peoples" claims SFPD "inflicted serious harm, concussive blows, and broken bones to demonstrators exercising their first amendment rights." The city's Arts Commission members last night reviewed letters they sent Mayor Alan Webber last June urging him to move quickly and warning of potential unrest if he let the issue languish. "Almost everything written on these documents by the arts commissioners has come true," Commissioner David Scheinbaum said. "It's kind of frustrating."
Listen up
The third and latest episode of Growing Forward, "Who's Running Things?," take a look at the people running New Mexico's medical cannabis program—including the manufacturers and dispensary owners—and how legalizing recreational cannabis would impact their businesses. Hosted by New Mexico Political Report's Andy Lyman and New Mexico PBS correspondent Megan Kamerick, Growing Forward is a new podcast exploring the cannabis industry in New Mexico. Previous episodes examine the history of medical marijuana in the state and the dynamics of legalization.
Court seeks members for Commission on Equity and Justice
The state Supreme Court is inviting New Mexicans to apply for its newly created Commission on Equity and Justice, which will study issues related to bias and inequities in the state's justice system and promote diversity among judges and judicial employees. The commission's voting members will be: one Supreme Court justice; one Court of Appeals judge; a total of three judges from the district and metropolitan courts; one magistrate court judge; one tribal court judge; one University of New Mexico School of Law representative; four attorneys; one community advocate; one human rights/civil rights representative; one mental health advocate; one court security officer; one state legislator; and at-large members. The court, in consultation with the steering committee, will appoint the commission's members and its chair. Details on how to apply are here.
Film fest from home
If you're bumming about missing out on this year's Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, guess what? SFIFF extended the virtual run through Oct. 24, so you still have time to cozy up at home and watch some good movies. SFR reviewed several, but gave particularly high marks to El Ultimo Balsero, Margaret Atwood: A Word after a Word after a Word is Power and Shiva Baby. Those three flicks barely scratch the surface of what is available to screen, which includes shorts programs by genre (Indigenous/sci-fi/LGBTQ/humor, for example); the directors' panel and student shorts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Here's the lineup and here's where you buy tickets.
Winter is coming…we bet
Today will be sunny with a high near 76 degrees, north wind 10 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Spoiler alert: As of now, snow is predicted for next Monday…whenever that is.
Thanks for reading! The Word thought this Washington Post column about books with bad endings was fun, although she can't imagine Romeo and Juliet ending any other way.
