The New Mexico Human Services Department held a press conference Thursday, outlining how COVID-19 is continuing to impact the state.
Dr. Jason Mitchell, the chief medical officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, stressed hospitals are predicted to reach full capacity in the coming months if no further action is taken to prevent the spread.
“You see, strikingly that mid-November, we would really be turning on the crisis standards of care,” Mitchell said. “We’d have to turn off all surgeries, turn off all elective care, brought everybody in. And by December, we would have so many cases we would be at that point where we're in MASH tents. You’d have outpatient people trying to do inpatient work. You’re sharing equipment.”
Despite the newest predictions, Mitchell believes there is a window of opportunity to get the virus under control.
“If we start today, and each of us modifies our behaviors, we're out less in public, we socially distance, we wear our masks…we can accomplish this,” Mitchell said.
