Commentary: Today, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the regression of 9 counties to the Yellow and Red COVID framework levels. Catron, Chaves, Eddy, Harding, Lincoln, Rio Arriba, Sierra, and Socorro all regressed to the Yellow Level, and Colfax moved to the Red Level.
Senator Cliff Pirtle (District 32-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero) issued the following statement in response to the announcement:
“Unfortunately, the inevitable came to pass and New Mexico businesses are again facing more restrictions. We have been saying for months that the COVID framework was unsustainable. We knew that when COVID cases drastically declined, a percentage based model would make no sense, especially in rural counties. It is time for the Governor’s office to descend from their ivory tower of faulty statistics and delusion, and see the effects these policies have on regular New Mexicans. Because of her failure to remove or adapt the lockdown framework, business owners from some counties now have their livelihood in jeopardy because of less than a dozen cases in the entire county. More than half of our state’s citizens have had at least one vaccine and thousands more have recovered and are immune. There is no logical, scientific, moral, or ethical reason to keep our state closed down. It is time for a full reopening of our state.”