Don’t let your guard down yet
Anyone who’s watched boxing (or who’s been in the ring themselves) knows there’s always danger before the final bell rings, no matter how one-sided a fight might have been in earlier rounds. And that danger can reach its apex in the late ones, when both fighters are exhausted and ready to retire to their corners.
New Mexicans, like everyone else in the world, have been in the ring with COVID19 for nearly two years—but now, in what we all hope are the final rounds of at least the most serious danger with this virus, isn’t the time to let our guards down.
That’s especially true since this virus is still swinging.
After 2020 saw a steady increase in cases after the first people in New Mexico fell ill that March, 2021 has been a rollercoaster. While vaccines have helped reduce hospitalizations and death, the hope that their widespread availability would spell the end of the pandemic hasn’t panned out so far. Case numbers have ebbed and flowed since then, but lately, as many epidemiologists predicted, the state has seen a steep rise in cases as we approach winter.
The New Mexico Department of Health reported this week that COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the state reached a nine-month high on Tuesday (Nov. 16), with a 47-percent increase in cases in the last two weeks. Data tracked by the New
York Times ranked New Mexico this week as the second in the nation for the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita. From Oct. 26-Nov. 1, Taos County saw a 100 percent increase in cases. Total cases in the county stood at 2,697 as of Wednesday (Nov. 17). Bill Patten, the chief executive officer at Holy Cross Medical Center, told the Taos News last month that Taos’ rural hospital also remains under serious pressure with COVID-19 patients and people who delayed care for other ailments in 2020. Shortages in medical staff, particularly permanent nursing staff, have been a longstanding issue at Holy Cross and many other rural hospitals, which often must spend a premium to fill the gaps with traveling nurses.
We’re all tired of hearing it by now, but the decisions we make as individuals and the behaviors we exemplify on a daily basis can have a direct impact on our collective well-being in this global fight. People are still getting sick and still dying. There’s no great conspiracy in that. It’s a reality, if one that’s exhausted all of us. Beyond getting vaccinated (if you’re healthy enough to do so,) wash your hands; don’t touch your face; wear your mask; get plenty of sleep and don’t run yourself down.
Take care of yourselves, Taos. Don’t let your guard down before the fight’s over. The final bell hasn’t rung yet.