Coronavirus Updates

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Tuesday announced 517 additional COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. As of today, there are 350 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Monday announced 1,895 additional COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. As of today, there are 300 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

SANTA FE - Today, the New Mexico Department of Health announced the enactment of Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) for the state’s health care system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous, ongoing, and unsustainable strain on the state’s health care system. In particular, the volume of COVID-19 patients - almost all of whom are unvaccinated - have exacerbated existing staffing and other resource shortages. 

What does Crisis Standards of Care mean for patients and providers?

Hospitals and providers are already faced with difficult choices about who gets care. Now, under CSC, facilities statewide will use a more standardized and equitable procedure for making those decisions. In addition, before a facility reaches this point, they must temporarily suspend non-medically-necessary procedures.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Attendance at this year’s New Mexico State Fair dropped by about two-fifths from the 2019 fair, the last before the 2020 event was canceled because of the pandemic. State Fair General Manager Dan Mourning said over 275,000 people attended the nine-day September event, a 41.6% decrease from 2019's attendance of about 472,000. Revenue figures weren’t available. Mourning said it’s likely the decreased attendance generated less than the 2019 fair’s revenue figure of over $5 million. The 2021 fair instituted requirements that included requiring people to show a COVID-19 vaccination card in order to enter and to wear a mask in all indoor spaces.

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is defending her authority to decide how the state will spend more than $1 billion federal pandemic aid — without the approval of the Legislature. Lujan Grisham said in a written court briefing Friday that a state Supreme Court decision nearly 50 years ago upheld the governor’s discretion over federal funding at universities and should hold true today regarding federal pandemic relief funds. Some senators have asked the Supreme Court to intervene and rein in the governor’s authority to spend without legislative approval. Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection in 2022, has used the relief funds to replenish the state unemployment insurance trust, prop up agriculture wages, among other things.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Friday announced 801 additional COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths. As of today, there are 332 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

SANTA FE - The New Mexico Department of Health will begin offering both COVID-19 and flu vaccinations at no cost at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Rd in Las Cruces, every Tuesday, starting October 19th from 9 am to 4 pm. 

Individuals eligible to receive their 3rd Pfizer dose/booster or any individual who has not started or completed their COVID-19 vaccine series (Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson only) can receive their vaccination. 

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has denied a request by dozens of scientists and others at Los Alamos National Laboratory who sought to block a vaccine mandate. Workers risk being fired if they don't comply with the lab's Friday afternoon deadline. The case comes as New Mexico extends its mask mandate for indoor spaces. While the vaccination rate among adults in New Mexico hovers around 71.5%, the rate among lab employees is much higher. Still, 114 workers sued, saying the mandate violates their constitutional rights and that lab management has created a hostile work environment. Attorneys for the lab argued that being vaccinated is a condition of working there.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Scientists and other workers at one of the nation’s premier nuclear weapons laboratories face a deadline Friday — be vaccinated or prepare to be fired.

Dozens of workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are suing over the mandate, saying exemptions have been unduly denied and that their constitutional rights are being violated. Their lawsuit also alleges that lab management has been harassing employees and has created a hostile work environment.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Thursday announced 879 additional COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths. As of today, there are 369 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s state treasurer says the governor of New Mexico is overstepping her authority in deciding independently how to spend more than $1 billion in federal relief without legislative approval or accountability. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has tapped the funds to replenish an unemployment insurance trust and underwrite millions of dollars in sweepstakes prizes for people who got vaccinated. In court filings obtained Wednesday, Democratic State Treasurer Tim Eichenberg has sided with a pair of legislators who say that the Legislature’s core spending authority is being overridden.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Wednesday announced 709 additional COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths. As of today, there are 310 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  Beleaguered business owners and families separated by COVID-19 are celebrating after the Biden administration says it will reopen U.S. land borders to nonessential travel next month, ending a 19-month freeze. Travel across land borders from Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to workers whose jobs are deemed essential. New rules will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter the U.S. regardless of the reason starting in early November. The ban has had enormous economic, social and cultural impact, preventing cross-border shopping and family gatherings when relatives live on different sides of the border.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation on Monday reported 11 more COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths for the eighth time in the past 12 days.

Tribal health officials had reported 55 new cases and two deaths on Sunday. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 34,458 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The known death toll is at 1,456.

  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday to prohibit any entity, including private business, from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers and called on state lawmakers to pass a similar ban into law. The Republican previously sought to ban state and local governments from enforcing a ban but had not stepped into rules businesses set for their workers. It was not immediately clear if the latest order would face a quick court challenge. Texas has seen a recent decrease in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But a rising death toll from the recent surge caused by the delta variant has the state rapidly approaching 67,000 total fatalities.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported 49 more COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths.

It's the second consecutive day that the tribe reported at least one coronavirus-related death after going six days in a row with no additional deaths. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 34,309 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The known death toll now is 1,453.

Navajo officials still are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel. 

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Friday announced 972 additional COVID-19 cases and 15 deaths. As of today, there are 342 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Thursday announced 1,025 additional COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths. As of today, there are 349 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Wednesday announced 838 additional COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. As of today, there are 336 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Tuesday announced 540 additional COVID-19 cases and 7 deaths. As of today, there are 352 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

Santa Fe - The Las Cruces Public Health Office, 1170 N. Solano Dr, has increased availability for scheduled appointments for COVID-19 primary or boosters vaccinations up to six days per week. Primary and booster doses of Pfizer - as well as the Johnson & Johnson primary vaccine - are available at the following days and times: 

• Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays* from 9-11:00 am and 12:30-4:00 pm
• Thursdays 12:30-6:30 pm (Weekday vaccinations are walk-in only) 
• Saturdays 8:30-11:30 am (Drive-through only)*
  

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Monday announced 1,776 additional COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. As of today, there are 293 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Hundreds of hot air balloons launched Saturday in a mass ascension, creating a colorful tapestry under a blue sky as Albuquerque began a nine-day annual event that was canceled last year due to the pandemic. The 7 a.m. mass ascension was the first of five scheduled  for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a major tourism attraction for New Mexico’s most populous city. The 2020 fiesta was canceled as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. Organizers said over 540 balloons were registered for this year’s event, The event is heavily photographed and draws visitors from around the world.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Friday announced 791 additional COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths. As of today, there are 347 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Thursday announced 1,009 additional COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths. As of today, there are 336 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  The recent discussion and governmental approvals of a third “booster” shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups of people has sparked a great deal of interest and dialog about the booster itself.

While some people have experienced side effects from receiving vaccines, the number is very, very small compared to the number of people who are dying from COVID-19, says Melissa Martinez, MD, professor in The University of New Mexico Department of Internal Medicine.

“Vaccines have been used by people for many years and are safe and very effective,” she says. “In the United States alone, more than 300 million COVID-19 dosages have been given.”

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Wednesday announced 632 additional COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. As of today, there are 287 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Students at one of New Mexico's largest public universities will be disenrolled if they don't comply with a vaccine mandate or opt to get tested regularly.

  The Las Cruces International Film Festival is making its way back to the silver screen next spring. The seventh annual LCIFF, presented by New Mexico State University and Visit Las Cruces, will run from March 2 through 6. The five-day festival will feature film screenings, workshops, panel discussions and celebrity meet and greet opportunities.
 
The LCIFF brings independent films to an ever-growing audience of indie film lovers in the Southwest. From features to documentaries, short subjects to animation, and a number of foreign films, the festival will screen more than 100 films at Allen Theaters Cineport 10 in Las Cruces.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Tuesday announced 613 additional COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. As of today, there are 301 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.