When it comes to political challenges, I have never noticed anything like this pandemic. The governor can factor the orders, but other people might not follow them, and the police can’t force everyone to wear a mask or keep their distance.
Much of New Mexico’s good fortune or failure rests on the non-public persuasive force of the governor and his closet secretaries.
His regular updates and pep talks, broadcast on Facebook, do more than spread the news and the numbers. Dr. David Scrase, Secretary of the Department of Human Services, denounces the latest rumor or empty speculation. Health Department Secretary Kathy Kunkel reminds us that her immediate reaction groups are addressing the spread of the virus in the workplace.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham urges us, in a torrent of words, to stay the course. It repeats a lot, so if you missed the point the first time, you will get it the third or fourth time. It is the administrator who speaks, but also the mother who spoke with her children about the importance of eating their vegetables.
How is she? Facebook provides real-time measurements. You can see viewers’ comments scrolling across the screen – positive, appreciative, devious, ignorant, and hostile. As of August 13, likes were 1,648, heart (love) emoji were 787, and angry emoji had 611. That’s an 80% approval rating.
The true measure, of course, is how New Mexico is doing in the fight against COVID-19, and the news is pretty good. Looking at the number of new positive verification effects in the state’s daily news release, we saw McKinley and San Juan counties rise and fall, followed by a similar trend for Bernalillo and Sandoval counties. Secondary counties we are in.
On August 13, New Mexico’s check positivity rate was 2. 4%, which is much lower than any state around it, which is remarkable when you don’t forget what was happening in the Indian country. Instances from Texas had left with 20. 4% and those from Arizona with 12. 6%. The lowest was Colorado with 6. 6%.
Be careful, New Mexico. We are in the look of a list.
The state’s numbers have earned the governor several national stories. It didn’t hurt that, as a prominent Latina, she was shortlisted through the candidate Joe Biden for vice president. When the hypothesis began, a former Albuquerque city councilman wrote: “No! We want it here! Many would agree with this, but perhaps not in the red counties.
The chairman of the state Republican Party, Steve Pearce, has complained about everything the governor has done, but politically speaking, he has table scraps. It is difficult to argue with the results, with the knowledge, with the science. And it’s not hard to believe that if Pearce had been successful in the gubernatorial race, his reaction to the virus would have been comparable to Texas’s with the same dismal results.
He left with the crab by state orders that, according to him, paralyzes the state economy, however, the state economy has been paralyzed by the virus. Later we can evaluate the movements of the state and locate them effective or excessive, but at the moment nobody, adds Pearce, knows the appropriate answer, because they had never been here before.
A friend of mine in Switzerland says that life has become general again and that she teaches. A friend in Georgia says that other people are afraid to leave their homes.
If we learned anything from Europe, it is that we want to shut down, engage the virus and then reopen, with caution. If we learned anything from Texas, Arizona, Florida and Georgia, it is that we cannot forget about the virus or wish it would pass and reopen without triggering a momentary wave.
The virus doesn’t care which party you belong to. It will hang in the air and wait for your unmasked face.