COVID-19 in numbers
On Friday, New Mexico health officials reported 714 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide total to 248,788. DOH has designated 218,310 of these cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 199 new cases, followed by Eddy County with 48 and San Juan County with 47. Santa Fe County had 35 new cases.
The state also announced 14 more deaths, 12 of them recently; There have now been 4,749 fatalities nationwide. On Friday, 314 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized, 46 fewer than the previous day. DOH is slated to provide a three-day update on cases, hospital admissions and deaths this afternoon.
Currently, 79.7% of New Mexicans aged 18 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 70.2% are fully vaccinated. In the 12 to 17 age group, 63.4% of people received at least one dose and 53.7% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 90.5% of those over 18 have received at least one dose and 80.4% are fully vaccinated.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
NM DOH will be releasing a booster plan this week
By the end of October, 70% of New Mexicans who have received a full series of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be eligible for a booster dose. The state Department of Health announced Friday that the state’s medical advisory team has reviewed and approved the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for booster vaccines for this vaccine. These guidelines state that anyone who has had the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago is and is: 65 years of age and older; a resident in a long-term environment; or 50 to 64 years old with certain underlying conditions should receive a booster vaccination. In addition, people aged 18 to 49 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19 due to certain underlying diseases can receive a booster vaccination for at least six months after completing the primary series, as can people aged 18 to 64 who have a are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission due to their professional or institutional setting. DOH says it will post plans earlier this week on how eligible new Mexicans can schedule their booster shots; Only people who have received a Pfizer vaccine are currently eligible, and neither the CDC nor the DOH recommend mixing vaccines.
NM struggles with the legacy of the boarding school
The national reckoning of the United States’ troubled legacy of federal boarding schools came home over the weekend as city and Native American leaders gathered in Albuquerque on Saturday for a memorial service for the buried at the Albuquerque Indian School Cemetery in 4-H Park . A memorial plaque for the students disappeared earlier this year; now Albuquerque city officials plan to use ground-penetrating radar to survey the area and mark the park with orange flags – the color intended to symbolize movement. “This is important because we have the opportunity to learn and understand from our collective history and make meaningful changes,” said Rebecca Riley, a native of Acoma Pueblo and a member of the city’s Indian and Alaskan Affairs Commission. “We deserve to understand the truth, determine our steps forward, and thank the local children and staff who never returned home to do better.” Santa Fe has a history of boarding schools like this, too : the Santa Fe Indian School on Cerrillos Road, now operated by the 19 pueblo governors of New Mexico instead of the federal government; and the Ramona Indian School and St. Catherine Indian School, which have long been closed. While there are reportedly vague rumors of unmarked graves at these sites, there is currently no known evidence.
State reaches agreement on mural
The New Mexico Department of Culture and artist Gilberto Guzman have resolved an ongoing dispute over the fate of Guzman’s “Multicultural” mural. Daniel Zillman, DCA director of communications and marketing, tells SFR that the mural will be on the wall of the former Halpin building on the corner of Guadalupe Street and Montezuma Avenue – the location of the upcoming Vladem Contemporary satellite branch of the New Mexico Museum of Art is REMOVED. But Guzman will “create a scale painting on panels of ‘Multicultural’ that will be permanently on display in the lobby of the New Mexico Museum of Art Vladem Contemporary, where it will be fully accessible for free,” says Zillman. A US district court judge signed the agreement on Friday, dismissing Guzman’s lawsuit against the DCA. With the agreement, Zillman said, “both DCA and Guzman acknowledge the community’s respect for art, culture, history and each other as they look forward to honoring the mural and building a contemporary art museum for the citizens of New Mexico. ” Guzman could not be reached for comment.
Listen
The latest installment of the Santa Fe Art Institute’s monthly Tilt podcast examines how artists use rituals to inform and enrich their creative practices, and to connect with larger communities, identities, and places. Guests include: SFAI Story Maps Fellow 2019 Sara Daniele Rivera, a Cuban-Peruvian artist, writer, translator, and educator from Albuquerque who received the 2018 Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry; and interdisciplinary artist, doula, Reiki master, author and mother Tintawi Kaigziabiher, the non-fiction editor of the Santa Fe Literary Review; Member of the Earthseed Black Arts Alliance; an artist with Vital Spaces; and a former fellow of SFR’s nonprofit journalism program.
Small steps
Scientists say the timing of human migration in early America remains unclear, but a new study provides evidence from excavated surfaces in White Sands National Park that this movement dates back to the Ice Age – approximately 23,000 years. “I think this is probably the greatest discovery of American colonization in a hundred years,” Ciprian Ardelean, an archaeologist at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas in Mexico, told the New York Times. Ardelean, who was not involved in the work, notes, “I don’t know what gods they prayed to, but this is a dream find.” Prior to this discovery, the earliest evidence of human migration dated from about 13,000 years ago, based on another discovery in New Mexico: the oldest known tools found in Clovis. But since the 1970s, researchers like Ardelean have been releasing potential older evidence of human presence in North America, again with evidence of tools. However, the White Sands discovery is about footprints that were first found in 2009 by park manager David Bustos. Since then, scientists have found thousands of them on 80,000 acres of the park. “In other words,” the Times writes, “the people who made the footprints walked through White Sands about 10,000 years before the Clovis people. The researchers estimated that the most recent footprints were from about 21,130 years ago. “The find, says archaeologist Ruth Gruhn (also not involved in the study), says:” is a bomb. ” Scientists continue their research at White Sands, racing against the clock before the erosion wipes out any remaining evidence.
Everything is not fair
The Washington Post is investigating the impact of vaccine mandates on major events focusing on the New Mexico State Fair. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in mid-August that attendees would be required to provide evidence at the show, which took place September 9-19. At the fair, the Post reports, “the barns, which are usually filled with animals that participated in the state’s first youth cattle competition, were quiet. A sleepy pig and a few sheep rested in pens just for show, not for honor. ”Meanwhile, hundreds of children and others gathered at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair Grounds for an alternative cattle show. The “broken” state fair, the Post writes, is “a symbol of the latest stage of a pandemic that is fueling a rift months after the release of vaccines that should end them”. The general manager of the fair, Dan Mourning, told the Post that the mandate caused some confusion and the fair ultimately canceled the cattle show. “We knew immediately that there were people who would not become our party this year,” says Mourning, who described himself as “dismayed” at the loss of the youth cattle component, but also supported the mandate itself. Both at the fair and at the alternative fair, Swiss Post finds different views, both for and against vaccinations. The unifying feeling seems to be that children were caught in the middle of a political struggle. “The young men and women who have worked so hard for it deserve their show,” says Mourning. “They are chess pieces.” The mourning continues: “The state fair is for all New Mexico people. And we hope that all New Mexicans can come back next year and enjoy the show. “
Rain back?
Cross your fingers Santa Fe: we might see some rain this week. The National Weather Service is forecasting scattered showers and thunderstorms for midday today with a 50% probability of precipitation. Otherwise it will be partly sunny in the afternoon with a high of about 70 degrees and a north wind of 5 to 25 miles per hour turning southwest in the afternoon. We can see a little more rain tonight and for the rest of the week. Thank you for reading! As someone with more t-shirts than they need, The Word loved reading about the t-shirt collection from writer Haruki Murakamis.
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