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. On Saturday, the state DOH reported 164 new cases of COVID-19 and another 67 on Sunday. DOH also reported eight additional deaths related to the disease.Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver spoke to NM Political Report about voting during the pandemic for this year’s general election.Doña Ana County will put drop boxes at all voting sites, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.Conditions have improved in a number of counties, including Doña Ana County, giving them the go-ahead to look at opening up their schools to in-person learning through the hybrid model, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.Advocates have said that the pandemic and the reliance on distance learning has led to problems for special education students, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.Ten of the fifteen positive cases reported on Thursday and Friday last week by the state Public Education Department were among those at Roosevelt Schools, including three students, The Eastern New Mexico News reported.Another inmate at the Grant County Detention Center tested positive for COVID-19 last week, the Silver City Daily Press reported, bringing the total to seven. More tests are still pending.The State Auditor’s office released its report on Rehoboth McKinley Christian hospital in Gallup, which was at the center of the response to the massive spread of COVID-19 in the area—and found problems with oversight at the facility, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.Speech language pathologists spoke to KOB-TV about how they are dealing with people who have recovered from COVID-19, mostly those who were intubated.An event at the Northern Edge Casino on the Navajo Nation had the distribution of food, hygiene products and also encouraged census participation among Navajo Nation residents, the Farmington Daily Times reported.Silver School District will start sending students from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade to in-person learning in the hybrid model on Monday, the Silver City Daily Press reported.Things are stabilizing with the worldwide oil industry, the Albuquerque Journal reported, but it’s at a far lower level than before the pandemic.The pandemic has led to problems with interim committee hearings for legislators, a key part of crafting legislation for the annual legislative session in January, the Santa Fe New Mexican wrote.Red River won’t be able to hire international students to work at the ski area and other businesses around the town because of COVID-19, KRQE-TV reported.Most Las Cruces city councilors aren’t in favor of lowering the minimum wage for tipped workers as proposed by the city’s mayor, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.The Albuquerque Journal wrote about an upcoming meeting of the New Mexico Activities Association, which governs high school athletics in the state, in which it will discuss COVID-19.The Public Employees Labor Relations Board ruled that the city of Santa Fe violated labor law when implementing its furlough plans, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.The Greater Chaco Coalition joined many other groups in asking for an extension period on comments for the resource management plan in the area, the Farmington Daily Times reported.
