ALBUQUERQUE – More people will be allowed inside grocery stores and other essential businesses as New Mexico on Wednesday amended its public health order on the coronavirus to address waiting lines as frigid temperatures take hold across the state.
Lines have formed outside grocery stores and other retailers for weeks following Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order that capacity be limited at establishments as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19. She has said the tough measures have helped to reduce new infections. However, deaths and hospitalizations related to the pandemic remain high.
“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,” the Democratic governor said.
Still in effect is the state’s color-coded system for classifying counties based on the rate of spread and setting benchmarks they must meet in order to begin easing restrictions. All but one of the New Mexico’s 33 counties remain in the red high-risk category.
Under the change, grocery stores and other essential retailers will be allowed to operate at 25% of maximum occupancy if they are in the red zone. 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.
Capacity will incrementally increase as counties move up to yellow and green tiers, but some municipal leaders have acknowledged it could be months before more populated areas such as Albuquerque and Las Cruces see improvements.
The change took effect Wednesday, as thousands of residents in New Mexico who are collecting unemployment benefits began receiving an extra $1,200 state stimulus in their payments.
The payments are being made to about 130,000 people who qualified for benefits in late November and early December and to people who exhausted their benefits between Sept. 12 and Nov. 5.
About 12,000 payments were distributed Monday via paper checks, direct deposits or debit cards. More disbursements are scheduled Dec. 22 and Dec. 28.
The additional payments are part of the $330 million economic relief package passed Nov. 24 by the state Legislature to help residents and small-business owners who have struggled during the pandemic.
Total confirmed COVID-19 infections in New Mexico since the pandemic began have topped 122,550. State officials expressed hope this week that the first shipments of vaccinations to hospitals around the state marks the beginning of a turning point.
Front-line health care workers are the first in line to be vaccinated, then staff members and residents at long-term care facilities. Plans have yet to be made for which groups of people will come next.
