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Pandemic afflicts impoverished areas of New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A top state health official is warning that COVID-19 infections are far more prevalent in low-income areas of the New Mexico, potentially straining Medicaid health care.

Human Services Secretary David Scrase said Wednesday that an analysis of infection rates by census tract shows that highly impoverished areas have infection rates seven times higher than the most affluent zones. Scrase and Children Youth and Families Secretary Brian Blalock gave a briefing Wednesday on public health trends and the state’s coronavirus response.

State health officials are wary that festivities over the Labor Day holiday weekend could lead to renewed surges in COVID-19 infections.