Mayor calls for vigilance as firefighter tests positive
4 others under quarantine; Webber warns of spike
Santa Fe city employees are being reminded by to remain vigilant against COVID-19 after a firefighter tested positive and four others are now under quarantine.
City Manager Jarel LaPan Hill “is reaching out to all of our department heads and asking them to take the message to all of our employees in the city that we’re really concerned about their well-being, their welfare, [and] we want them to be super careful as they go about their work,” Mayor Alan Webber said Monday during a virtual news conference.
“We need to be as cautious and concerned as we were when the initial outbreak happened,” he added.
Webber called a spike in COVID-19 cases not just in Santa Fe but in New Mexico “very dangerous and very concerning.”
“It’s very dangerous to let your guard down, and none of us is exempt,” the mayor said. “We know [President Donald Trump] is struggling with it. His press secretary is struggling with it. If COVID-19 can get into the White House, it can get into anybody’s house, so we all really need to be mindful that it’s on the rise again. We don’t have it licked.”
While the Santa Fe area’s efforts to slow the rate of growth was held up as a model by state officials in April, Webber said the city’s seven-day rolling average of new cases is almost at 12 a day.
“Our last worst day was in July,” he said. “We’re back ... in that time frame.”
Webber said he spoke “with folks on the governor’s team” Monday morning who shared his concerns.
“The numbers are going in the wrong direction — they’re going in the wrong direction all over the country,” he said.
Webber said he didn’t know what was causing Santa Fe County’s numbers to go up, though he said a spike in the fall was predicted.
“There is no explanation at the moment that I can discern,” he said. “There is no one simple cause.”
But the message is clear, Webber said.
“We’ve got to redouble our efforts,” he said. “You’ve got to take all the precautions necessary, whether it’s being very careful with social distancing, wearing masks, using hand sanitizer. All of the above.”