ALBUQUERQUE – The New Mexico wing of the Civil Air Patrol is flying dozens of coronavirus tests from a meatpacking plant in southern New Mexico to a state lab so they can be processed quickly after officials say one worker at the plant tested positive.
Tests from the first two shifts at the plant in Santa Teresa were collected Monday and flown to the New Mexico Health Department’s Scientific Laboratory Division in Albuquerque. The last shift would be collected and flown to the lab on Tuesday.
The rapid testing was being done to provide information needed to keep the plant operating safely for employees as well as the public, said Dave Daniels with the Health Department. Officials did not identify the plant by name.
The confirmed case at the plant is among the 4,031 cases reported so far in New Mexico. Several thousand tests have been done in Doña Ana County, turning up 170 total cases – far fewer than McKinley, Bernalillo, Sandoval and San Juan counties. McKinley County, which includes Gallup and part of the Navajo Nation, accounts for three of every 10 cases statewide.
The Civil Air Patrol also has helped transport test kits from Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces to the Albuquerque laboratory and delivered a shipment of personal protective equipment to the Farmington area and brought test kits to the lab on the way back.
In southern New Mexico, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has recruited two Hollywood actors to help raise money for areas of Doña Ana County that were already struggling before the pandemic.
Richardson’s philanthropic foundation is partnering with The Las Cruces Sun-News to promote a relief fund, the newspaper reported this week. Richardson said he reached out to Edward James Olmos and Danny Trejo to see if they would join. The fund has already amassed $40,000.
Olmos (“Battlestar Galactica”) and Trejo (“Desperado,” “Spy Kids”) say they have fond memories of filming in that part of the state.
The colonias are unincorporated, low-income areas in Doña Ana County located along the U.S.-Mexico border. The communities there often lack adequate housing and potable water, but the issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
The Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico will process applications for those looking for assistance. The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico will manage the fund.
Trejo also runs his own taco restaurants in Los Angeles. He has been helping to hand out food to families and health care workers there.
