SANTA FE – New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham headed a press convention Thursday, broadcast from the state Capitol, to provide public updates on the state’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friday will be six months since the March 11 declaration of a public fitness emergency in New Mexico, the day the first tests for the disease in the state were announced.
During this period, more than 26,000 of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the disease were confirmed, more than 800 New Mexicons died after contracting the disease and more than 800,000 tests were administered.
The full convention can be seen in the video above, and below is our blog, reported when the update was made.
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16:00. The convention began shortly after the hour.
Earlier in the day, the governor gave an online testimony to the U. S. House financial services committee. Where he testied with other governors about the effect of COVID-19 on the state budget, economic activity, and unemployment. spring has arrived in New Mexico.
All governors have affirmed the need for federal assistance for state and local governments.
In May, the Democratic majority in the House passed a $3. 4 trillion bill, the HEROES Act, which included a circular of household stimulus bills, nearly $1 trillion for local aid, and billions for housing assistance and food aid.
President Donald Trump and the Republicans of the United States Senate opposed the Democratic proposal, a Senate bill with a thinner bill of $300 failed in a vote of 52 to 47 today.
4:14 p. m. With 161 new instances of COVID-19 reported today, the state has shown 26,429 instances of 806,999 tests since March 11, including the first case in De Baca County, which is the last of New Mexico’s 33 counties without a COVID-19Array case.
This afternoon, COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, 15 of them with fans.
With 3 new deaths, a total of 816 Citizens of New Mexico died after contracting COVID-19. The deaths occur with a man in his twenties in Bernalillo County and two women in 80 Lincoln and McKinley counties. underlying conditions, which can increase the death threat from SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease.
Social Services Secretary of State David Scrase reiterated his call on citizens to maintain their desires for physical care, such as breast cancer screening and other preventive care procedures, such as the flu vaccine.
4:21 p. m. Scrase said New Mexico was doing well with the blocking criteria used to assess business reopening and adjustment of public aptitude orders. The propagation rate and the low rate of daily instances of recent times decrease the demand for the hospital formula and shield. health care workers, while efforts to find contacts can continue faster than an outbreak.
“Nothing about the virus has changed,” Scrase. La reopened school, and the consequences of Labor Day will go away for a few weeks,” he said.
4:31 p. m. Secretary of State for Public Education Ryan Stewart analyzed the needs of public schools and autonomous schools to resume in-person training as a component of the state’s “hybrid” style of limited distance and face-to-face service.
Nearly 3,600 academics were welcome to resume their studies in this style this week, according to Stewart. The PED works with heads of office across the state to ensure that schools comply with COVID-19 protection protocols.
Next week, PED will launch listening sessions for small organizations with families and teachers. Meanwhile, five% of school staff will be evaluated weekly to monitor fitness on site, and Stewart has promised ongoing education to staff on the use of non-public protective devices. (PPE) and other protective measures. The branch also distributed PPE throughout the state, he said, and made sure schools had sufficient supplies.
Meanwhile, the state is also providing instructors in the use of Canvas, an online educational platform.
4:42 p. m. PED also offers loose online resources for parents who must oversee home education.
Stewart related compliance with masking, handwashing and other COVID-19 protocols with permission to open more districts, and paid tribute to bus drivers, nutritional staff and other non-educational personnel “who have been moving mountains for six months. “
Secretary of State for Early Childhood Education and Protection Elizabeth Groginsky, who runs a new closet firm officially unveiled on July 1, argued for young people under the age of five.
Many providers remain closed, but the family circle for child care assistance has been canceled for September and October. More than 500 providers have implemented child care stabilization and recovery grants. Groginsky also spoke about facilities to expand child care spaces or assistance to match families with providers.
For more information on everything in the department, he referred citizens to http://////www. NewMexicoKids. org.
4:49 p. m. On higher education, Lujan Grisham said university campuses can provide a high-risk environment for community expansion, but expressed confidence in institutions’ efforts to adopt practices opposed to COVID-19 and immediate reaction protocols.
Despite some positive cases at universities since the start of the school year, he said, “I think we’re in a smart situation. Decrease the (test) of positivity in the state, the higher the results”. All our higher education institutions. Your willingness to take care of the touch sports and hold them . . . made a difference. “
5:07 p. m. The Sun-News Crosses asked about the U. S. Senate bill rejected today.
Lujan Grisham noted that the National Association of Governors asked Congress for a $500 bill in state aid, and said it remains “cautiously optimistic” that anything will pass through Congress, this does not fit the NGA’s request. (The U. S. Senate bill that failed today was a $300 billing package.
Not knowing how long the procedure takes, the governor said she did not expect an emergency consultation before the 2021 winter consultation.
“If we continue to decrease the infection rate and keep our positivity (test) rates low, this provides us with significant opportunities to continue (increase) the dimmerArray . . . which means that we are mitigating economic disruptions and losses in the coming year. prosecutor, “said the governor.
Scrase then intervened on behalf of state Medicaid programs, which he said provides care to 42% of New Mexico residents. Since COVID-19 has a higher prevalence in low-income spaces and the remedy for the disease is costly, there is increased pressure on the program.
“There’s no way to know how much cash we need,” Scrase warned.
5:13 p. m. Lujan Grisham said he had made an offer to a possible successor to health secretary Kathy Kunkel, but that no one had yet accepted the post. He also praised the functionality of the branch under interim leadership, where he pledged to cover the next secretary. As soon as possible.
The permanent successor to state epidemiologist Michael Landon, who has also retired, receives it in early October.
5:23 p. m. When asked if he could see new imaginable business openings or the resumption of sports among young people, Lujan Grisham cautioned against stoking public anticipation and engaging “open invitations” to delay compliance with still-in-force public fitness ordinances.
He recalled that the inhabitants of New Mexico only faint when necessary, avoiding social gatherings (of 10 or more people, according to existing fitness orders) and dressed in masks in public.
He said some activities, such as going to the movies, might not come back until there’s a COVID-19 vaccine. What is imaginable before, he said, is to develop tourist capacity and take on a little more threat to reopen some retail operations and indoor restaurants that remain limited.
“The virus doesn’t tell me what next week will be like,” he said, emphasizing that the new movements will be based on the data.
5:34 p. m. Se made repeated clarifications, in reaction to a journalist’s question, on how cases are counted for college students, inmates or residents outside the county.
Scrase stated that when a non-state resident tested positive, the case is rived to the state of the patient’s home and comes with their case number, while hospitalization figures come with anyone, resident or not, because it measures the existing capacity of NM’s hospital system.
Meanwhile, he said epidemiologists remained “aware” of coronavirus activity in site collection and campuses to tell the reaction to epidemics.
5:39 p. m. When asked what the knowledge of coronavirus shows in a colder climate, Scrase responded, saying that there is conflicting clinical evidence on how temperatures and other climatic situations are transmitted.
“We don’t have consistent leadership one way or another,” he said.
5:45 p. m. Pressed more on possible remedies for the state’s projected budget deficit of $2 billion in the next legislative session, Lujan Grisham said: “We have a fiscal calamity absolutely related to the virus. It’s a virus we’ve simply controlled a lot as a country. Best. . . The federal government still has a coherent strategy. “
Once he returned, he expressed hope that New Mexico’s economy could take more steps to reopen and complete income, pending an aid program in Congress.
You can reach Algernon D’Ammassa at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news. com, or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.