County imposes curfew as state renews restrictions

With the exception of essential workers, Taos County residents will be required to remain in their homes from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Thursday (Oct. 22) as state officials prepare to enact a new round of pandemicrelated restrictions.

Taos County manager Brent Jaramillo announced the curfew Tuesday (Oct. 20) by direction of the Taos County Board of Commissioners, which cited “the troubling growth of COVID-19 infections, health department statistics and [Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s] stay-at-home order.”

Anissa Arrambide, public information officer for the county, said the order will apply to the “unincorporated areas of the county.” The town of Taos enacted a curfew in April that expired in September, but had yet to announce any new curfew as of Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 20).

The county’s announcement followed a press release from the governor’s office on Tuesday that detailed new restrictions for state businesses and residents. The release was to be coupled with an online press conference hosted by the governor and her staff, but the broadcast was delayed due to technical difficulties, according to the governor’s office.

The new order will require certain businesses that have had four rapid responses to positive cases to close for two weeks. The rule will apply to food and drink establishments, “close-contact businesses, retail spaces, places of lodging and other places of business presenting an extreme public health risk as determined by the department of health,” the release states.

All retail businesses will be required to close by 10 p.m., it also states, in alignment with a previous requirement that food and drink establishments also close at the same hour. Retail establishments include grocery and “big box” stores.

Indoor dining limited to 25 percent will still be allowed, but only for establishments whose workers have completed the New Mexico Safe Certification training program. Restaurants that have not completed the certification will be limited to outdoor, dine-in service at a capacity of 75 percent, with tables spread at least 6 feet apart.

The state will also close state museums and historic sites starting Friday (Oct. 23). The Harwood Museum of Art, while not technically a museum, will close as well. “We must all do our part to curb the pandemic, and while we successfully created a safe environment in the museum, and the staff has relished being able to share art with our community and visitors, we have to think bigger than ourselves,” said executive director Juniper Manley, in announcing the temporary closure.

The changes set to go into effect Friday will supplement a revised public health order announced on Oct. 16.

New Mexico’s rolling sevenday average daily case count has reached 563 cases after its positivity rate spiked last week. The state’s case count grew by 599 new cases alone Tuesday, to a total of 37,896. Taos County has also seen its total cases rise, with six new cases announced on Monday (Oct. 19) and one new case on Tuesday. The county’s total stands at 174 with four deaths related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

State officials have attributed the recent rapid rise in cases to relaxed adherence by state residents to preventative measures outlined earlier this year, such as wearing masks in public, avoiding unnecessary travel, washing hands frequently and practicing social distancing.

“This last week has been scary,” reads a quote from Gov. Lujan Grisham in Tuesday’s announcement. “It’s been unsettling and upsetting to see everybody’s hard work and sacrifice undone in only a few short weeks. That is the awful, relentless nature of this virus, this invisible enemy of ours. And when we begin talking about straining our state hospital capacity – when we talk about the availability of beds, of health care workers to treat New Mexicans in need – we are talking about a crisis that would unequivocally lead to more significant illness and more needless death in our state. We cannot afford to take that risk lightly. We must not panic, and we must act.”