Reopening economy on hold for now

A plan to reopen more of New Mexico’s economy is on hold for now as coronavirus cases surge throughout the state and region.

Eastern New Mexico and neighboring Texas counties are among those seeing the number of positive tests skyrocket.

In a public briefing Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she and state health officials are monitoring a “very concerning” climb in the transmission rate of the disease and waiting to see whether it’s a longer-term trend.

The state’s business restrictions — allowing restaurants and salons, for example, to operate at partial capacity — will remain in place for now. They are set to expire Wednesday, though the governor said she expects to decide before then whether to extend the order or make changes.

Curry County has seen a string of 15 consecutive days in which residents have tested positive for COVID-19. The county has recorded 132 cases in all, up from 68 on June 11. Officials said 51 cases are considered recovered and the county has not recorded any virus-related deaths as of Saturday morning.

Across the state line, Parmer County reported five deaths related to the virus, all last week. County Judge Trey Ellis said he believes all five fatalities were patients at Prairie Acres nursing home in Friona. Parmer County has recorded 184 positive cases — 50 more than Curry, which has almost five times Parmer’s population.

Bailey County also reported its first COVID-related death last week.

With COVID numbers rising and hospitalizations setting records for 14 straight days, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday capped restaurant occupancy at 50 percent and re-closed Texas bars. Abbott also shut down river-rafting trips and banned outdoor gatherings of over 100 people, unless local officials approve.

Prior to Friday, bars were up to 50 percent capacity and restaurants to 75 percent. Tubing had just gotten underway in Texas waterways, including the Frio, Blanco, Guadalupe, Pedernales, and Comal rivers.

On Thursday, however, Texas saw another record number of new cases — 5,996 — as well as hospitalizations — 4,739. The state’s ratio of positive cases to tests, a seven-day average, rose back up to 11.76 percent — the same rate as in mid-April. Abbott had said exceeding 10 percent would be cause for alarm.

In New Mexico, health officials are weighing an array of options, Lujan Grisham said, including whether to reimpose more stringent health orders or step up enforcement of a requirement to wear masks in public, except when eating, drinking or exercising 6 feet away from other people.

Too many New Mexicans, Lujan Grisham said, are gathering in groups and refusing to wear a mask. “We are clearly not there,” the governor said Thursday of managing the disease. “We can do better than this.”

The spread rate of the virus climbed sharply over the last week, according to statistical modeling by state officials and Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

The effective rate of transmission reached 1.12 on Tuesday — meaning each person who’s infected transmits the disease on average to 1.12 other people. The rate was at 0.87 the previous week.

“This is a problem,” Human Services Secretary David Scrase said during the remote briefing, broadcast from the Capitol. “We’re not doing as good a job keeping the virus in check. We have to be even more careful.”

Aggregated cellphone data reviewed by the state also shows New Mexicans are traveling more outside the home and that, in some counties, mobility has reached pre-pandemic levels.

Scrase said New Mexico residents have brought back COVID-19 after traveling for a baseball tournament in Arizona and graduation parties in Texas. He reminded people that they can carry and spread the disease even before they show symptoms or know they have it.

State health officials are considering whether to reimpose a quarantine order for out-of-state visitors who drive in, Lujan Grisham said, not just for air travelers. Even without a requirement, she suggested people avoid travel into or out of New Mexico and that they self-isolate if they must cross state lines.

“I think there’s a false sense of security now by, frankly, most Americans,” Lujan Grisham said. “The virus has not gone anywhere.”

The Eastern New Mexico News, Albuquerque Journal and Palestine Herald-Press in Texas contributed to this report.