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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/25/21 edition)

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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. While it was overshadowed by announcements below, the state Department of Health announced on Wednesday there were 448 more cases of COVID-19 and fourteen additional deaths related to the disease. The number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Wednesday was 251. The big news, though, was the state easing restrictions and creating a fourth tier for reopening—the turquoise level. Counties that reached green for two consecutive two-week periods would qualify for turquoise.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/24/21 edition)

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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. The state Department of Health reported 314 new cases of COVID-19 and nine additional deaths related to the disease on Tuesday. The state of New Mexico has exceeded the 500,000 mark when it comes to administering doses of COVID-19 vaccination, the state’s Department of Health announced on Tuesday.“New Mexicans can be proud: thanks to a first-in-the-nation registration system and a dedicated network of health care providers and volunteers across our state, we are vaccinating our population extraordinarily quickly,” DOH Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said in a statement. “We are doing so because we recognize the toll this virus has taken – more than half a million American lives, including more than 3,600 New Mexicans. We seek to move New Mexico beyond this pandemic as rapidly as possible.” Drug manufacturers said they expected to have roughly double the current number of available vaccines by April—not including the possibility of more vaccines from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that could receive an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration soon—Politico reportedIn all, the DOH has reported administering 506,384 doses as of Tuesday, including 331,496 first doses and 174,888 second doses.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/23/21 edition)

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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 Monday, the state Department of Health reported 237 new cases of COVID-19 and 11 additional deaths related to the disease. Read more here.Sunday featured no new COVID cases or deaths related to the disease in long-term care facilities, according to a press release by the state Aging and Long Term Services Department.“Giving our long term care residents the ability to get a COVID vaccine is reinstating their ability to protect themselves against this vicious disease. For 11 months now, residents have had to endure isolation and testing in an effort to keep them safe.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/22/21 edition)

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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. The state of New Mexico reported 747 new cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional deaths related to the disease on Saturday and Sunday. Read more details here.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would veto a bill that limited her powers in a public health emergency, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.COVID-19 restrictions have made it so the public is unable to physically be in the Roundhouse for the legislative session, and the Santa Fe New Mexican looked at how virtual efforts to keep the public involved are seen by legislators and others.Another Las Cruces Public Schools educator died from complications related to COVID-19, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.The Santa Fe New Mexican wrote about the plans for a return to in-person learning at Santa Fe Public Schools.A KUNM-FM reporter reported on a trip to Texas to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.A drive-thru clinic at the V.A. Hospital in Albuquerque gave 1,000 veterans COVID-19 vaccinations on Saturday, KRQE-TV reported.The Navajo Nation reported 48 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths related to the disease on Saturday and 27 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths on Sunday.A protest of about 200 people outside the Albuquerque Public Schools headquarters sought to pressure the district into going into a hybrid model that would let schools participate in prep sports, the Albuquerque Journal reported.The Taos Municipal Schools Superintendent answered questions about the return to in-person learning through a hybrid model in the Taos News.One student athlete’s family moved to Kansas City to be able to play sports, KOB-TV reported.The general manager of a hardware store in Los Alamos said there has been an 80 percent increase in paint sales since the start of the pandemic.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/19/21 edition)

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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. The state reported 411 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 additional deaths related to the disease on Thursday. The number of those who are hospitalized for the disease was at 284; this could include those from out of state who are hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexico residents who are hospitalized out of state.It was the fifth straight day of fewer than 500 cases, the Albuquerque Journal noted.The DOH vaccine dashboard said that DOH has administered 465,715 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, 311,904 of which were first doses 153,811 of which were second doses. The state has administered 70,754 in the last seven days.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/18/21 edition)

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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. While the state is among the best in the nation when it comes to administering the doses it receives from the federal government, the state DOH secretary-designate still said the limiting factor is the number of vaccines the state receives. Read more here.The vaccine supplies are slowly increasing, however, including with several thousand more doses next week than the state received this week, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.The state Human Services Department Secretary predicted that a majority of counties in New Mexico would be at the yellow or green level next week, the Roswell Daily Record reported.On Wednesday, the state reported 281 new cases of COVID-19 and twelve additional deaths. The number of those hospitalized in New Mexico also continued its drop, to 280 people.The state’s economic outlook improved again, according to revenue projections provided to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.The Albuquerque Public Schools board voted against a motion to return to hybrid learning, which would mean the state’s largest school district will remain virtual until the end of the year, KOB-TV reported.Most school districts in northern New Mexico will at least open high schools to hybrid learning, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.Quay County saw a big increase in vaccinations last week, thanks in part to vaccination events in Tucumcari and Logan, the Quay County Sun reported.The state Natural History Museum reopened on Wednesday, KRQE-TV reported.The NMAA is waiting to make schedules for athletics until districts decide whether they will have athletics this year, KRQE-TV reported; the state will only allow prep athletics to occur if the school is in a hybrid model.Popejoy Hall is hopeful that events will be able to return to the venue this year, KOB-TV reported.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/17/21 edition)

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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. The state Department of Health reported 308 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and 12 additional deaths. In the press release announcing this, DOH included this new language:Daily case counts and test numbers are raw data based on information the state receives today – meaning data that has not yet been scrutinized to identify potential duplicates or late-arriving positives or negatives. By contrast, the Red Yellow Green county-level analysis provides a highly accurate picture for a two-week period of time.The state of New Mexico has administered 441,786 doses out of the 448,500 it has received from the federal government as of Tuesday.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/16/21 edition)

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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. The state Department of Health reported just 200 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the lowest number in months. The state also reported nine additional deaths related to the disease. Read more here.As of Monday, the state of New Mexico reported it had administered 437,903 doses out of the 429,950 it had received.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/12/21 edition)

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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. The state Department of Health reported 541 new cases of COVID-19 (including 101 in Chaves County, the most in that county since December) on Thursday. The department also reported 18 additional deaths related to the disease. As of Thursday, there were 371 individuals hospitalized for COVID-19.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will leave the state of New Mexico for the first time since the start of the pandemic, when she travels to Washington D.C. to meet with President Joe Biden along with a small, bipartisan group of governors and mayors to discuss state and local aid as part of a COVID-19 relief package.The Biden administration also said it would meet with Indigenous leaders to discuss (among other things) COVID-19, Axios reported.The Navajo Nation has vaccinated 44.5 percent of residents of the reservation—and one hospital has even started vaccinating anyone over the age of 18, the Navajo Times reported.A significant winter storm is expected to hit northern and central New Mexico this weekend, bringing with it extremely low temperatures.

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Recap of New Mexico COVID-19 news (2/11/21 edition)

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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: Andy Lyman will be on KUNM-FM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico to discuss cannabis legalization at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Most of the counties in the state moved to yellow or green restrictions because of positive COVID-19 trends in the last two weeks. The governor and state health official were optimistic in a Wednesday press conference. Read more here.The state’s four most-populous counties (Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties) are all among those that are now in yellow restrictions.Visitation in nursing homes is also expanded in the yellow restrictions, KRQE-TV noted.Watch the press conference here.The state had administered 365,297 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday (15,195 more than reported on Tuesday).