New Mexico is all red, no green.
Nor yellow, for that matter.
All of the state’s 33 counties will be in the highest level of public health restrictions for the next two weeks under a tiered and color-coded system imposed by the state to determine the level of risk of COVID-19 — though a vast majority are showing improvement in the fight against the virus.
But the deadly disease still has a firm grip on New Mexico.
The state, which released its updated COVID-19 map Wednesday afternoon, later reported 1,816 new cases and 43 additional deaths, including a man and a woman, both in their 80s, from Santa Fe County. Both were residents of the Sierra Vista Retirement Community facility on Rodeo Road.
Meanwhile, the state on Wednesday also amended its emergency public health order to accommodate a slightly higher number of customers inside essential retail spaces “as cold weather grips most of New Mexico,” the Governor’s Office said in a news release.
“Previously, essential retail spaces could operate with either a limit on maximum occupancy or a specific number of customers at one time, whichever was smaller. The change eliminates the latter provision,” the statement says.
Republicans in the state House of Representatives accused Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of flip-flopping on restrictions for retailers.
“Today, with less than two weeks remaining in the holiday shopping season, the Lujan Grisham administration finally walked back retail capacity restrictions that have been forcing New Mexicans to wait in long lines for food and other necessities,” a news release states.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said New Mexico’s priority is ensuring physical distancing in high-traffic areas like stores.
“With colder weather here, we want to ensure that people aren’t gathering in lines for an unsafe length of time, especially in communities where there are fewer retail options for essential needs. We are grateful to the numerous companies and stores across New Mexico that have made every effort to keep their customers, employees and communities safe,” the governor said.
“The safe choices remain the same: Stay at home whenever you can, avoid groups and gatherings, and always wear your mask when you must leave the house,” she added.
New Mexicans appear to be paying heed to the advice, based on the state’s updated COVID-19 map.
The Governor’s Office said 27 counties improved in at least one of the two health gating criteria metrics and 23 improved in both metrics, “underscoring an improving COVID-19 outlook across the state.”
The state uses the per-capita daily incidence of new cases and average test positivity within a county in its determination. To earn the least restrictive green level, a county must have a testing positivity rate at or below 5 percent and an average daily count of fewer than eight new cases per 100,000 people. A county that meets one criterion may operate at the yellow level.
Under the red level, which is deemed “very high risk” and is assigned to counties where the virus is more prevalent, indoor dining is prohibited, gatherings are restricted to no more than five people and essential retailers are banned from operating at more than 25 percent of maximum occupancy.
San Miguel County, which includes the city of Las Vegas, N.M., had been the only county in the state operating at the middle yellow level, but it fell into the red category under the latest update. Two weeks ago, the county’s testing positivity rate was at 5 percent; it is now 6.6 percent. Its average number of new cases also increased from 32.2 per 100,000 residents to 48.6 per 100,000 residents, according to the state’s COVID-19 map.
The state said several counties are “rapidly approaching” the yellow-level thresholds.
Over the past two weeks, average daily per-capita case rates improved for 25 counties, including Santa Fe, where test positivity rates are also trending in the right direction.
Two weeks ago, Santa Fe County’s test positivity rate was 15.5 percent and its cases per 100,000 residents stood at 90.1; its test positivity rate has since dropped to 10.1 percent and its number of cases per 100,000 residents is now at 59.
“The color-coded tier system … enables counties to shed burdensome restrictions and provide local communities the flexibility to operate more day-to-day activities as soon as public health data show the virus is retreating within their borders,” the state said.
The state also is making progress in an effort to vaccinate New Mexicans.
A spokesman for the governor said the entire shipment of 17,550 doses of the Pfizer vaccine was completed Wednesday.
The Link LonkDecember 17, 2020 at 08:00AM
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/all-new-mexico-counties-in-the-red-for-virus-spread/article_34231702-3fe0-11eb-aa60-772dbef69487.html
All New Mexico counties in the red for virus spread - Santa Fe New Mexican
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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