Spread slowing in N.M., gov. says
Falling transmission rate could mean more businesses could get OK to reopen soon
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday the spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed considerably in New Mexico, adding the state potentially could roll back some restrictions on businesses before the end of the month.
“It is good news this week,” Lujan Grisham said in a news conference broadcast on her Facebook page. “Let’s keep it up.”
New Mexico’s COVID-19 spread rate has dropped to 0.72, a level well below its target of 1.05 and an indication the number of infections is on the decline, Human Services Secretary David Scrase said.
The state is now averaging around 200 new cases per day, with 212 cases and two additional deaths reported Thursday. The daily case count previously averaged in the 300 range, Scrase said.
The new trend comes only a few weeks after the governor put the brakes on the reopening of the state’s economy amid a surge in new cases and said police would begin fining people for not wearing face coverings.
Last week, Lujan Grisham extended until the end of August the state’s current occupancy limits on businesses and houses of worship, a ban on indoor dining and rules prohibiting mass gatherings.
Yet she said Thursday the declining case count could spur the state to relax some of those restrictions before then.
“It is possible,” the governor said. “Certainly, that’s what we desire.”
One of the state’s main goals, officials added, is to reduce the spread of the virus enough so schools may open to in-person learning after Labor Day.
“We’re in a stone’s throw of getting our kids back to school,” Scrase said. “That’s only going to work if we pull together, we stay at home, we do the things we know we need to do.”
Officials said the case count has fallen in New Mexico because of efforts by residents to wear masks and practice social distancing, and they also credited the state’s contract tracing work.
The state has hired more people to work as contact tracers and is now reaching out to people an average of 32 hours after they test positive. The state’s goal is to contact them within 24 hours.
“The contact tracing is really working and we are finding and isolating people and preventing spread,” Scrase said.
Notably, the spread of the virus has fallen in northwestern New Mexico, which was the state’s biggest hotspot in the first several months of the virus.
On Tuesday, there were only six new cases reported in McKinley County and five in San Juan County, compared to 34 new cases in Southern New Mexico’s Doña Ana County and 23 in Lea County.
Bernalillo County, New Mexico’s largest, leads the state by a wide margin in total number of cases, with 5,029. McKinley is next with 4,033, while San Juan has had 3,026 and Doña Ana has seen 2,348.
Santa Fe County has reported 618 total cases, despite having a larger population than San Juan, McKinley and Lea counties.
The state has announced a slight easing of some specific coronavirus-related policies amid the improving COVID-19 numbers.
Earlier Thursday, the Governor’s Office unveiled a change to its requirement that people arriving from out of state quarantine for 14 days, saying the rule will not apply to New Mexico residents who leave the state for less than 24 hours or who cross a border for medical care or parenting responsibilities.
The state also issued new guidelines allowing for outdoor visitation by appointment at long-term care facilities.
The visits will begin next week at facilities with no active COVID-19 cases and will start only in counties with low case rates, said Katrina Hotrum-Lopez, secretary of the Aging and Long-Term Services Department.
“Our goal is to have one visit with families per month, and so we’re going to be working with the facilities to do that,” Hotrum-Lopez said.
The number of COVID-19 cases at nursing homes in New Mexico has improved, with the state falling to 32nd in the country for average cases after previously being among the top 10.
“We’ve made great progress,” Scrase said of nursing homes. “We think we’re now getting to a point that we have this under control.”
There are just under 10,000 people living in long-term care facilities in the state, and 6.1 percent of those facilities have reported at least one COVID-19 case, Scrase said.
Still, officials emphasized that the battle against the virus is far from over.
“[It’s] too early to say we’re out of the woods,” the governor said.
Lujan Grisham said that during a recent drive in Northern New Mexico, she saw some communities following the state’s COVID-19 guidelines while others were flouting the rules.
“I also visited a public outdoor area near the Rio Grande, where people picnic and fish, and I saw terrible COVIDsafe practices,” the governor said. “I saw music being played, dancing occurring and no mask-wearing. And it is an indication that we’re not where we need to be.”
Family gatherings continue to be a major source of risk for spreading the virus, the governor said.
Lujan Grisham also said she believes it is “really risky” for universities to proceed with the football season and other sports this fall.
“I think that we should be delaying, pausing fall sports,” she said.
Asked about how New Mexico is preparing for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine, officials said multiple agencies have been working on plans since mid-June and the state will work with private health care providers to administer vaccines.
Still, Lujan Grisham said the federal government has not made it clear what its criteria will be for distributing a vaccine to states, and she expressed doubt Washington will manage the distribution well.
“It will likely not go as smoothly as it’s being indicated it will,” she said. “I hope I’m wrong.”