New Mexico bans nonessential surgeries
Gov. cites strain on hospitals, warns much work remains
A two-week economic shutdown helped drive down the number of new COVID-19 infections in New Mexico.
But the latest data shows the state is once again beginning to trend in the wrong direction and seeing an alarming level of hospitalizations, prompting Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to remind residents Thursday to remain vigilant of the virus and follow public health guidelines.
“The issue is the two weeks doesn’t really change the entire trajectory, so this is not an invitation for people to go out more,” said Lujan Grisham, who indicated during a virtual news conference Thursday she plans to seek reelection in 2022.
“It’s a recognition that those solid public health practices work, and if we keep them up, we can give our health care workers a rest, we can make sure that we don’t completely overwhelm our health care system,” she said, adding COVID-19
Nonessential surgeries are defined in the order as procedures that can be delayed for three months without ‘undue risk’ to a patient’s health.
is already inundating the state’s hospital network.
Still, the governor said a public health order in November that shut down in-person services at businesses deemed nonessential — a move she called a “reset” for the state as infections climbed to record levels — had its desired effect.
“We decreased from a 24 percent positivity rate to a 13 percent positivity rate,” she said. “We are aiming for about a statewide 5 percent positivity rate, so you can see we have a long way to go, but this is exactly what we were hoping and aiming for.”
Thursday’s glimmer of good news came hours after the state Department of Health issued an emergency order prohibiting all hospital acute care facilities in New Mexico from performing nonessential surgeries through Jan. 4. The state also issued an emergency order relating to crisis care standards, which would allow hospitals to begin rationing care based on the severity of a patient’s symptoms and a person’s chances of survival with interventions. The order outlines the steps necessary to protect health care providers from liability during the public health crisis.
“New Mexico’s health care providers and delivery system will continue to provide the best possible care to all patients,” acting Health Secretary Billy Jimenez said in a statement.
“New Mexico’s health care system, and everyone working within it, will continue to work toward the best possible outcome for our state,” he continued. “It’s so important for all of us to step up for those dedicated health care workers, to recognize the sacrifices they are making to protect our neighbors, to understand our own actions can and will make a difference. Take this crisis seriously and adopt COVID-safe behaviors in your own day-to-day life.”
The order temporarily limiting surgeries, effective Friday, is in response “to the ongoing public health crisis in New Mexico and resulting unsustainable strain on health care providers and hospitals” as a result of the pandemic, the Health Department said.
Nonessential surgeries are defined in the order as procedures that can be delayed for three months without “undue risk” to a patient’s health.
“Nothing in the emergency order applies to the provision of emergency medical care or any medical actions necessary to provide for urgent or emergency medical needs; or to any surgery or procedure that would result in the worsening of a serious condition, if not performed,” the department said. Examples include removing a cancerous tumor or a surgery intended to manage an infection.
The order outlines criteria to be considered in distinguishing between essential and nonessential procedures, including the threat to a patient’s life or threat of “permanent dysfunction of an extremity,” as well as prenatal or postnatal care.
On Thursday, the state reported 1,791 new cases of the novel coronavirus, with 74 additional infections in Santa Fe County.
The state also had 23 more deaths, including a Santa Fe County woman in her 90s.
On Thursday, 916 people across the state were hospitalized for COVID-19, with 159 patients on ventilators.
“This number is very frightening,” the governor said about the number of hospitalizations. “I don’t want people to be frightened. But I want you to see that this is a dramatic number, and it is why we have to work harder.”
The disease continues to strain hospital capacity.
“We’ve got to manage this virus better because we will overwhelm the health care system, and I mean completely overwhelm it, where there isn’t an available space for practitioners,” Lujan Grisham said.
While the governor’s so-called reset worked, Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said the state is seeing an uptick in new cases.
“That’s very worrisome because of the state our hospitals are in, and they just cannot take on another 100 patients at this point of time,” he said.
“We have hospitals now that are over 50 percent coronavirus patients for the first time in the pandemic. We have intensive care units that are 100 percent coronavirus patients for the first time in the pandemic. We have hospital ICUs that have every single person on ventilators for the first time in the pandemic, and that it is very unusual,” he said.
“ICUs provide a broad spectrum of care for very, very sick people,” Scrase added. “But I know in my career — and I haven’t worked in ICU for a while, so just want to be clear on that — [I’ve] never been in a situation or heard of a situation where every single person in an ICU was on a ventilator.”