SANTA FE – New Mexico’s governor on Thursday reported a record-setting 48 daily deaths statewide linked to the coronavirus pandemic, as the state delivers economic relief payments to the unemployed and small businesses.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is concerned that daily deaths could grow even higher over the year-end holidays.
“We are still in a dramatic set of circumstances,” she said from the governor’s mansion in a remote, online news conference.
She urged residents of New Mexico to “have a Zoom Christmas” online with extended family as a precaution against virus transmission. She said it’s impossible to gather amid holiday food treats and also wear protective masks.
“You can’t wear a mask and eat a bizcochito,” she said, referring to a popular holiday cookie in New Mexico tradition.
Health officials confirmed that the state has received 17,550 vaccines for distribution to hospitals and clinics since the federal approval of a vaccine from drug maker Pfizer and German pharmaceutical company BioNTech.
The vast majority of those doses are going to health workers. The state expects to receive a new shipment of the Pfizer vaccine next week.
Tight restrictions on public gatherings and nonessential business are in place in all 33 counties across the state, under a color-coded system for relaxing stay-at-home restrictions and rates of infection and positive testing for COVID-19 improve.
Lujan Grisham provided an update on the $320 million economic relief package approved in late November by the governor and lawmakers.
Direct payments of $1,200 have gone out to 120,000 people as a supplement to unemployment insurance.
