Note: This daily recap of COVID-19 news from New Mexico from the previous day is available in a daily email. Sign up here. The same post will also appear on our website each morning.
- The Albuquerque Journal looked at how hospitals are preparing for the likely flood of COVID-19 patients. New Mexico Human Services Department Secretary David Scrase said that hospital feel they have enough ventilators, but there is a lack of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
- The state announced 14 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 57.
- The entire Navajo Nation is subject to a shelter-in-place order reports the Navajo Times. A reporter for the paper tweeted Saturday night that there are now 26 cases on the Navajo Nation, including one from the Crownpoint Service Unit, which is in New Mexico. The rest are in service units in Arizona.
- The Associated Press wrote about how tribes are preparing.
- The Albuquerque Journal reported that one positive case is a student from Del Norte High School and the state is asking students and staff from the school to self-isolate.
- San Juan Regional Medical Center found a positive COVID-19 case, the Farmington Daily-Times reported. The hospital says the test took place on March 18.
- Medical cannabis dispensaries are still open, but have to adjust to comply with the ban on crowds of ten or more. Read our story.
- A woman in Santa Fe said she was tested for COVID-19—and it might be five days until she gets the results.
- Hiring is on hold at Albuquerque Public Schools, one of the largest employers in the state.
- The last major pandemic to hit the United States at such a scale as COVID-19 is expected to hit was the Spanish Flu of 1918. New Mexico didn’t handle that very well, the Albuquerque Journal reported, digging through newspaper archives to see how many downplayed that New Mexico would be affected—but like everywhere else, the state had to grapple with the deadly pandemic.
- Don’t flush kleenex, paper dowels or basically anything but toilet paper down the toilet. It could clog up your pipes, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and the New Mexico Environment Department said.
- The Veterans Administration did not allow employees to work from home, as of March 13 according to New Mexico In Depth.
- State Treasurer Tim Eichenberg, joining other state treasurers, wants the Federal Reserve Bank to do more to help states as they grapple with the impacts of COVID-19 and the costs of attempting to slow the spread.
- The Santa Fe New Mexican referred to downtown Santa Fe as a “ghost town.”
- The state of New Mexico has some idea on how to fight loneliness and boredom while self-isolating.
- Health Action has some recommendations about what the federal government can do to help with COVID-19.
- A NMSU assistant professor and director of the School Psychology Doctoral Program in the College of Education has some advice about talking about COVID-19 with your kid, reports the Las Cruces Sun-News.
- The City of Albuquerque will keep residents age 62 and older separate from the rest of the population at its Westside Emergency Housing Center, which houses homeless people. The city’s Department of Family and Community Services created two temporary shelters for this population.
“In my current position I felt obligated to take these extra measures to provide one more layer of safety for the most at-risk residents of the Westside Emergency Housing Center,” stated Carol Pierce, Director of the Family and Community Services Department. - The Santa Fe New Mexican took another look at the budget situation.
- Drive-up COVID-19 tests are still happening this weekend in Las Cruces. Because of the availability of tests, the state is asking only those with symptoms (cough, fever, shortness of breath) to get tested.
- The drive-up test site on Albuquerque’s Westside at Presbyterian Rust will be moved to Balloon Fiesta Park because of the long lines.
- The City of Albuquerque won’t be closing parks. But they still ask anyone who goes to parks abides by the six-foot social distancing rule and does not gather in groups of ten or more.
- How will small towns like Penasco deal with COVID-19? The Santa Fe New Mexican wrote about it.