ALBUQUERQUE – The rate at which the coronavirus is spreading in New Mexico is declining, but one of the state’s top health officials warned Friday that the trend does not mean residents are out of danger yet.
Human Services Secretary David Scrase said during an online update that there’s a general belief among people in New Mexico that things are getting better and that everyone can get back to work now.
“The reason things are getting better is not because anything has changed about the virus,” said Scrase, a physician. “It’s because we are doing more social distancing, we are wearing masks, we’re keeping apart. The virus is going to be the same, and we’re going to be just as susceptible to it until we’re all vaccinated, or a large percentage of us are vaccinated. Remember that.”
Scrase said part of the problem is about one-quarter of confirmed cases in New Mexico involve people who had no symptoms. When dealing with a pandemic, he said that represents a huge number and must be part of the consideration as state officials deliberate whether to reopen more of the economy.
State officials say New Mexico has been able to keep its cases from skyrocketing like neighboring Arizona and Texas because it has kept in place its stay-at-home order and established other counter measures aimed at limited contact between people and reducing the potential for spread through the use of masks, for example.
The number of infections in New Mexico topped 10,260 this week, and the death toll stands at 464. McKinley and San Juan counties still account for about half of the state’s cases. Dozens of positive tests among state and federal inmates being held in lockups in Otero County were to blame for a recent spike.
It could be another two weeks before state officials announce the next phase of reopening, and state public education officials are still weighing options for how classes will resume in the fall.
The easing of some restrictions on June 1 did not appear to overwhelm the state’s health care system or “take us beyond where we wanted to go,’ Scrase said.
But he still urged caution, saying the curve is more a reflection of social behaviors rather than any changes in the virus itself.
The warning comes as New Mexico’s largest city prepares to open playgrounds this weekend for Father’s Day. Officials in Albuquerque say each playground will be posted with signs reminding visitors to wear masks, keep their distance from one another and use hand sanitizer regularly.
As for sanitizing the playgrounds and high-touch areas like benches and picnic tables, city workers will do that on a weekly basis.
In other developments:
More than 170,000 cloth face masks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are being distributed to workers at small businesses around the state and customers who don’t have their own. State emergency management officials are working with the Association of Commerce and Industry and local chambers of commerce to deliver the masks.State officials say more than 3,000 New Mexicans from rural communities, senior citizens and others who are considered food insecure will benefit from a donation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The state received 120,000 pounds of food and supplies and the use of delivery vehicles from church volunteers this week.
