‘Virus is winning,’ governor warns
Lujan Grisham adds new restrictions but refrains from calling for resumption of shutdowns; 3 more die in S.F. County
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced fresh restrictions Tuesday on restaurants, retail stores and museums in a heightened bid to try to slow a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases.
The news came as New Mexico’s
COVID-19 surge continued Tuesday with nearly 600 newly confirmed cases and seven more deaths. Three of the fatalities were residents of Santa Fe County.
Beginning Friday, restaurants that want to continue serving customers indoors, at 25 percent capacity, will have a new slate of obligations, including spot-testing workers for the virus, keeping a three-week log of all customers for contact-tracing purposes and completing an online certification program by Oct. 30.
Meanwhile, retail businesses will have to close by 10 p.m. daily, and state-operated museums and historical sites will be required to shut down completely, the governor said.
“We are in a very difficult place currently in the state of New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said in a virtual news conference on Zoom. “The virus is winning.”
There also will be new rules regarding rapid responses, state procedures that
usually require businesses to temporarily halt operations after an employee tests positive for COVID-19.
Businesses that have four rapid responses within a period of 14 days will now have to close for a full two weeks, the governor said.
“We think these structures and these strict COVID-safe practices are the prudent way forward,” the governor said.
Despite the additional rules, Lujan Grisham again stopped short of calling for mandatory business shutdowns, saying officials will wait a week or two to determine whether the newly announced measures are able to decelerate the virus’s spread.
“I wish I could give you a definitive,” the governor said.
She added officials were trying to avoid a “whiplash scenario” in which they announce openings and closures within short periods of time.
A sharp upward curve
Health officials reported 599 new cases of the virus Tuesday, a number unseen in the state before a string of record-breaking days last week in which the daily count reached as high as 819.
There were 205 people in the state hospitalized for COVID-19 on Tuesday, a 12 percent jump from Monday and three times the number of hospitalizations four weeks earlier.
“As of today, 81 percent of adult general beds at New Mexico hospitals are occupied, and 71 percent of adult ICU beds across New Mexico hospitals are occupied,” health officials said in a news release. “This includes patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and other illnesses.”
The Santa Fe County deaths announced Tuesday included an elderly man and woman who had lived at Kingston Residence and a man in his 40s. The deaths were the first for the assisted living facility, which previously had no outbreaks of the virus.
Kingston released a statement late Tuesday that said five residents recently tested positive for COVID-19, and it is awaiting the results of additional testing.
The facility also stated it is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local health agencies.
“Since March, Kingston Residence of Santa Fe has successfully defended our community from COVID, our staff has worked tirelessly to protect everyone under our roof, and we are very proud of their efforts,” the statement read. “We will remain vigilant in guiding our residents and staff to take all proper precautions to insulate themselves and their loved ones from this invisible virus that continues to swell in our local community.”
The deaths were the first for the assisted living and memory care center, according to state Department of Health data. The agency released a report Friday showing the facility had logged a total of two coronavirus cases by that time, one infected staff member and one patient, and had no deaths.
Amid the pandemic’s recent surge, the state is now failing to meet five of its eight “gating criteria,” which are the targets it uses to make COVID-19 policy decisions, officials said in the news conference.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases is 533, more than triple the state’s goal of under 168.
Its test positivity rate, which was once the lowest in the region, has hit 6.5 percent.
That number, which measures how many people who are tested for COVID-19 turn out to have the virus, has nearly doubled since the beginning of the month.
New Mexico’s rate is now higher than those of states such as Colorado and California, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus data.
New Mexico’s COVID-19 transmission rate remains at 1.27, above the target of 1.05. A rate below 1 would mean the virus is in decline rather than spreading.
“Our rate of spread is one of the highest, if not the highest, in the United States,” Human Services Secretary David Scrase said.
Scrase, who has spearheaded much of the state’s coronavirus response, said he is particularly concerned about hospitalizations, noting there is a “significantly increased occupancy rate” for both general and ICU beds.
A main problem, he said, is that Albuquerque hospitals are largely full, which complicates their role as the “referral center” for COVID-19 patients around the state. As an example, Scrase said, a patient this week had to be transferred from Deming to Santa Fe instead of Albuquerque.
‘We let our guard down’
While the worsening numbers have dethroned New Mexico from its long-held position of having some of the best coronavirus numbers in the country, the new surge is not unique to the state; it’s hitting much of the nation.
The seven-day average of new cases nationwide has increased 34 percent from two weeks earlier, with numbers particularly rising in the Rocky Mountains and Midwest regions, according to the New York Times.
Still, Lujan Grisham laid some of the responsibility for New Mexico’s new wave on the recent behavior of residents.
“New Mexico went from one of the best states in the nation to one of the states that’s in the most trouble in the nation,” she said. “And it’s really because we let our guard down.”
A widespread return to obeying COVID19-safe practices along with the new restrictions could significantly improve the outlook for the state, Lujan Grisham said. Yet flouting the guidelines could lead to an even worse outcome given winter months are on the horizon, she added.
“We’re not in a good place right now,” the governor 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.”
New workplace watchlist
The number of workplace rapid responses has grown significantly in recent weeks, reaching 832 in the week of Oct. 12-18 — nearly four times the number the state saw a month ago.
The state Environment Department will begin publishing a “watchlist” of businesses that have had at least two rapid responses — a tool designed to inform consumers about where COVID-19 is present in their communities.
There were 12 Santa Fe businesses on the state’s watchlist released Tuesday, including Whole Foods Market, Walmart on Cerrillos Road and Sam’s Club.
If the governor’s new rule, shutting down a business for two weeks after four rapid responses, had been in place, Environment Secretary James Kenney said, 42 businesses would have been forced to close.
The count will begin at zero, however, once the order begins Friday, he said.
Measures draw mixed reaction
As they have since early on in the pandemic, Republicans in New Mexico again criticized Lujan Grisham for what they called “another attack on businesses.”
“Locking down New Mexico more is not the answer,” state Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said. “It’s not going to fix the problem the governor has created.
“New Mexicans are strong, good people, but they cannot be forced to live by the governor’s arbitrary rules,” he added. “We must have a choice.”
In Santa Fe, some restaurant owners were unfazed by the latest evolution of restaurant restrictions.
“Safe certification is something any professional should be practicing anyway,” said Quinn Stephenson, owner of Coyote Cafe and Santacafé.
“I think it was really well done,” he added, speaking of the governor’s new measures. “They are smart and easy to execute.”
The New Mexico Restaurant Association had sought 50 percent indoor occupancy for restaurants that completed the New Mexico Safe Certification, rather than 25 percent. But CEO Carol Wight said the group is still pleased with Lujan Grisham’s announcement.
“I will say, we are thrilled,” Wight said. “I thought she was going to close us down.”
So far, only 76 restaurants have completed the certification process because there previously was no motivation to do so, Wight said.
“I think there will be more than 1,000” by the deadline, Wight said.
Some restaurant owners, however, are less enthusiastic about keeping a mandatory customer logbook for contact tracing.
“I’m just tempted to not do indoors at all and just do takeout and outdoors,” said Roland Richter, owner of Joe’s Dining.
Richter said he’s been trying to do the New Mexico Safe Certification training for months but keeps “getting kicked out of the system.”
Rob Black, CEO of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry, also spoke favorably about the governor’s call for New Mexicans to obey COVID-19-safe guidelines.
“All of us need to do more so we can keep the economy open,” Black said. “We all have to take personal responsibility for our community.”
“We’ve got to wear our masks,” he added. “We’ve got to social distance. If we just do this for a month, the [coronavirus] numbers will drop like a rock.”
Yet state-run museums were dismayed at the news they have to close again.
New Mexico Museum of Art officials said they were preparing to open a new exhibit Saturday but will have to pivot to a virtual experience.
“I’m not sure I can say how I feel about having to close again,” said Executive Director Mark White. “It’s disappointing because we were looking forward to being able to welcome more visitors.”
White said digital exhibits “have value,” but they can’t be a “replacement.”
“It’s not a substitute for the direct experience of seeing a work of art in person,” he said.
Khristaan Villela, executive director of the Museum of International Folk Art, said his museum will lose “its public” because of the new shutdown.
“I’m sorry that this new shutdown happened. I’m disappointed,” he said. “I like to see people coming through the doors. I’m waiting for the day that the school buses full of children are able to come back.”
The governor said she is still “optimistic” the state could show major improvement in its COVID-19 numbers if residents comply with the new measures.
“Let’s re-crush this virus,” she said. Jennifer Levin, Teya Vitu and James Barron contributed to this report.