Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (12/16/20 edition)

This morning recap of COVID-19 news from New Mexico is available in a free email every weekday. Sign up here. See all of our COVID-19 coverage here. Note: The daily COVID-19 newsletter will take a vacation from Dec. 21 until Jan. 4.  The state of New Mexico crossed yet another grim milestone on Tuesday—2,000 COVID-19 deaths. […]

Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (12/16/20 edition)

This morning recap of COVID-19 news from New Mexico is available in a free email every weekday. Sign up here.

See all of our COVID-19 coverage here.

  • Note: The daily COVID-19 newsletter will take a vacation from Dec. 21 until Jan. 4. 
  • The state of New Mexico crossed yet another grim milestone on Tuesday—2,000 COVID-19 deaths. Read more here.
  • The plaintiffs in the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit said the state needs to do more to provide computers and internet access to students during remote learning. Read more here.
  • The secretary-designate of the state DOH spoke about the start of vaccine distribution in New Mexico on Tuesday, just her second day on the job. Read more here.
    • Seniors who don’t live at congregate care facilities want to know when they will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine, KOB-TV reported.
  • The state said it had to discard 75 doses of the vaccine because it potentially overheated during a delivery to Union County General Hospital, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The vaccines must be kept at about 100 degrees below zero.
  • Frontline workers at Holy Cross Medical Center received their vaccinations on Tuesday, the Taos News reported.
  • Navajo Nation health officials reported 160 new COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths related to the disease, as well as 77 communities with uncontrolled spread.
  • A 44-year-old third grade teacher from New Mexico died with COVID-19, KRQE-TV reported.
  • At-home virus tests will be available soon, the state’s health secretary-designate said on Tuesday, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
  • There were 70 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among detainees and staff at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center, the Farmington Daily Times reported.
  • A survey of Las Cruces Public Schools found that two-thirds of parents want their children in a hybrid learning model, but only about half of staff of schools want to do so, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
  • The City of Albuquerque went over its plan for COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, The Paper reported.
  • The $1,200 payments for unemployed New Mexicans have started to go out, KOB-TV reported.
  • The City of Las Vegas extended its curfew through Jan. 15, the Las Vegas Optic reported.
  • The Santa Fe Reporter wrote about the NOVID app that the city of Santa Fe is using to aid against COVID-19.
  • The number of visitors to Santa Fe dropped 42 percent in 2020 from 2019 between MArch and November, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
  • As travel—especially by air—has plummeted, Southwest Airlines issued a filing that said the company could furlough more than 80 employees next year, Albuquerque Business First reported.

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