This daily recap of COVID-19 news from New Mexico is available in a free daily email. Sign up here.
See all of our COVID-19 coverage here.
- The state announced seven additional COVID-19-related deaths and 169 new confirmed cases of the disease, according to the DOH’s latest numbers. See the full story here.
- The city of Albuquerque said they are to ease restrictions and reopen businesses, but noted that he didn’t know the date yet. “As badly as we want to pick a date to open up, it’s clear the virus picks the date, not us,” he said. Read the story here.
- Rio Rancho’s mayor said that reopening the economy has to be based on data.
- The Navajo Nation announced an additional 78 cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths related to the disease. In all this brings the totals to 1,360 confirmed cases and 52 deaths.
- Of the total cases, 475 are in New Mexico. That’s an increase of 33 over Wednesday’s announced numbers.
- Doctors from California are flying in to help out with the spread of COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation.
- Congress passed a $484 billion aid package, the New York Times reported. The package didn’t include money for state and local governments.
- A hiring freeze and other budget cuts are likely coming to balance the state’s budget, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
- A man in Albuquerque with COVID-19 was detained after refusing to self-isolate, KOAT-TV reported.
- Government agencies across the state are increasing some spending, citing the public health emergency, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
- The Los Alamos National Laboratory forecast says there is a 57 percent chance that New Mexico has or is about to hit its peak amount of COVID-19 cases but deaths will continue to grow, the Albuquerque Journal reported. A scientist and mathematician at the lab said it doesn’t preclude a second or subsequent wave, however.
- The governor said in a court filing that jailing inmates during a pandemic is not cruel and unusual punishment, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
- The Eddy County Commission passed a resolution asking the state to reopen non-essential businesses and nonprofits, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported.
- The Chaves County Commission also voted to reopen businesses.
- The Doña Ana County Commission scheduled a vote on a resolution to ask the state to reopen local businesses, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
- Taos County officials say they hope to reopen their offices to the public soon.
- The mayor of Grants said he will reopen the city on Monday, despite the statewide stay-at-home order. Non-essential businesses that open will be breaking the order and state law.
- COVID-19 is just the latest thing to threaten Indigenous languages. The Santa Fe Reporter examined efforts to keep the languages alive.
- The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and the New Mexico State FAir are planning on moving forward, KOB-TV reported.
- The state Supreme Court extended its suspension on civil and criminal jury trials to May 29.
- The Navajo Times wrote about a couple that contracted COVID-19 and the stigma they felt.
- KUNM took another look at the homelessness in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen here.
- The Las Vegas Optic reported on how San Miguel County is addressing COVID-19, even as there have only been two confirmed cases in the county.
- A retired Beowulf scholar at UNM died last week from complications arising form COVID-19, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
- The Ruidoso News reported on the preparations by Lincoln County Medical Center for the possibility of a surge of patients.
- Three APD officers were reprimanded for getting haircuts at a local barbershop, KRQE-TV reported.
- The state denied a Las Cruces restaurant’s attempt to hold a drive-in movie showing, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
- Small businesses in Española are struggling to get financial aid, the Rio Grande Sun reported.
- One class of workers who haven’t received checks and aren’t frantically refreshing the IRS page to see when it will arrive: Undocumented immigrants; while many pay taxes, they aren’t eligible for the stimulus payments, the Rio Grande Sun reported.
- A Colorado meatpacking plant that closed after a COVID-19 outbreak that claimed the lives of four workers will reopen.