COVID-19 in numbers
New Mexico health officials reported 749 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total cases to 242,399; DOH has designated 210,738 of these as recovered. Bernalillo County had 215 new cases, followed by Lea County with 107 and Doña Ana County with 74. Santa Fe County had 15 new cases.
The state also announced 12 more deaths; In total there were now 4,631 fatalities. As of yesterday, 352 people with COVID-19 had been hospitalized – 32 more than the day before.
Currently, 78.9% of New Mexicans aged 18 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 69.1% are fully vaccinated. In the 12 to 17 age group, 62.4% of people received at least one dose and 51.4% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 90.1% of those over 18 have received at least one dose and 79.7% are fully vaccinated.
Hold on to Your Masks: The current health ordinance requiring indoor public face coverings, which is expiring today, will be extended for at least another month, according to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office.
The incumbent Minister of Health Dr. David Scrase, DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Laura Parajón and the designated Minister of Education Dr. Kurt Steinhaus will host a COVID-19 update today at 2 p.m., which will be broadcast live on the NMDOH Facebook page.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Officials prepare for elections and protect staff
In the elections on November 2, those entitled to vote will again have the opportunity to hand in their postal voting documents outside the polling stations. Counties must provide one mailbox for every 25,000 voters, unless otherwise requested, says Foreign Minister Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and the distribution of these mailboxes has already started. Postal voting begins on October 5th. The state spent around $ 6 million in federal pandemic aid last year to install the mailboxes to encourage social distancing as voter turnout rose. These mailboxes became the subject of controversy among members of the Republican Party and the focus of a lawsuit by former President Donald Trump that was later dropped. However, last year’s volatile elections are remembered for election officials. Toulouse Oliver told the Albuquerque Journal that she and her staff received death threats last year and that she eventually left home for several weeks after her personal information was exposed on a website titled “Enemies of the People”. “There were about five weeks – almost six weeks – where I had to go into hiding for lack of a better deadline and take a lot of personal safety precautions,” said Toulouse Oliver. “And it was nowhere near as bad as some of my colleagues.” Toulouse and lawmakers are now considering options to protect election workers, such as a special criminal law that avoids threats against election workers.
Drought in the eye
With New Mexico and the West in the midst of an ongoing mega-drought, the state Department of the Environment yesterday launched a new website designed to help water managers for public utility companies manage resources. The drought, it said in a press release, is having “serious implications for industry, agriculture, public utilities and our growing outdoor recreational economy,” as well as the state’s cultural traditions, such as caring for the Acequia. Droughts, according to the website, can affect the operation of water utilities in a number of ways, including: loss of water pressure and supply; poor spring water quality; increased customer demand due to high temperatures and dry conditions; increased costs and decreased revenues. The new website provides drought information and resources for water utilities, including contingency planning and funding. “The Environment Department is helping local communities increase their resilience to the effects of drought and man-made climate change,” Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a statement. “Our drought intelligence StoryMap responds to real-time challenges from local executives to make informed decisions about their water needs.” The website includes updated drought maps showing the extent of the drought across the state, with several counties including Santa Fe County currently from extreme drought.
“The Opium Drama!”
The state Human Services Department yesterday announced a new Spanish-language campaign to combat opioid abuse in Hispanic communities: “¡El Opio Drama!” Is a six-part series of 30-second animated telenovela-style programs “aimed at bridging the gap between bridging several generations in Spanish-speaking households ”. The new initiative builds on the government’s “Dose of Reality” campaign and will also include paid advertising on Spanish-speaking TV channels such as Telemundo and Univision, websites, social media and outlets in areas with a large Spanish-speaking population. “Si, se puede. We are committed to helping the diverse Hispanic and Latin American communities in New Mexico understand who may be at risk of accidental overdose and how to prevent it, ”said Dr. Neal Bowen, director of the Behavioral Health Services Division in the New Mexico Human Services Department, said in a statement. “We need to work to make information culturally and visually accessible,” said Bowen. “No community is immune to opioid use disorder and this positive telenovela story is a powerful medium for that [mirrors] the lives of real people facing this public health issue. ”According to the Department of Health, between 2015 and 2019, nearly 86% of drug overdose deaths in New Mexico were from accidental overdoses, with 45% from prescription opioids and 33% from Heroin were caused. Almost 40% were Hispanic men and 18% were Hispanic women.
Listen
The prolific author and “unruly genius” Joyce Carol Oates plays her new novel Breathe in New Mexico, which the New York Times describes as “a feverish dream of a novel that sparkles the most as an allegory of grief”. The grief in question surrounds Michaela McManus, who has moved to New Mexico with her husband, respected science historian Gerard McManus, who soon falls ill and dies. “The couple’s temporary home-state is weird and beautiful, with its ‘battalions of sculpted clouds’ and ‘dark blue skies of El Greco looking up helplessly,'” the Associated Press writes. “The surreal quality of the place mirrors the unknown path they are struck by when Gerard coughs and falls ill with a mysterious illness.” Report by Santa Fe presenter Lorene Mills speaks to Oates about the in a recent episode Location of the novel, with Oates noting the challenge of getting to a place of great height. “It is difficult to breathe for people from the East. We can’t catch our breath … Coming here is like approaching an existential abyss of the cosmos, it’s almost like going out into space. “
NM top places
White Sands National Monument was ranked 15th on Lonely Planet’s new book, the Ultimate United States Travel List, which lists the top 500 not-to-be-missed experiences in the United States. The methodology described in detail initially involved “casting a wide web – every sight, attraction and experience in every state,” an endeavor that included 46,977 entries. From there, Lonely Planet “tapped its extensive network of travel writers who rated and then rated each place they visited with one to five stars. Next, it was time to get the travel community, including Lonely Planet staff, editors, and travel bloggers, to vote on their 20 favorite places and experiences. ”In the end, hundreds of votes were cast. “The beauty of a book that highlights 500 experiences is that it highlights the truly iconic places and experiences across the country that are not to be missed,” said Piers Pickard, Lonely Planet managing director of Publishing. That being said, the # 1 winner was anything but unknown: the Grand Canyon, with Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Since we haven’t seen the book, we don’t know if other locations in New Mexico have it Made the top 500, but for as long as we look at the rankings, Taos County was recently ranked 6th in USA Today’s top 10 best fall foliage viewing destinations, as well as the top 10 in the list of 10 Most Charming Hill Towns USA of the World Atlas.
Denver takes a look at Santa Fe as Meow Wolf is ready to take off
With the opening of Meow Wolf’s Denver installation on September 17, the Denver Post takes a look at how Convergence Station “could fuel and transform Colorado’s tourism, art and culture.” On the one hand, the Post says, based on Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return and Las Vegas’ Omega Mart, the newest location could “become one of the city’s best-selling attractions and tourist draws,” and perhaps “transform the city and state.” Ailing art industry. ”On the other hand, the writer John Wenzel ponders how“ will his mixture of art gallery and theme parks be received by the public or represent our city to the outside world? Many of us – including those who have visited Meow Wolf’s Home of Eternal Return in Santa Fe since it opened in 2016 – have wondered the same things. “
From an economic standpoint, Convergence Station looks like a winner, it continues with a view to Santa Fe, where apparently “Meow Wolf has reorganized the economy and received official approval from the state.” Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, suggests that Denver “with its large population base, the attraction of residents as a percentage of visitors will be much greater” and “Denver will also learn that Meow Wolf appeals to all ages, not just the younger ones Classes or Family… In Denver, I don’t see this changing the city’s identity other than making it more art-centric and complete. ”Still, the Post cites several reasons for concern, including“ employee turnover, investor revolts, lawsuits, and apparent union destruction ”, the latter in relation to the outcry over apparently anti-union language in a job posting for a personnel position. “My hope is that they do more to promote individual artists than they absorb,” Denver artist Mar Williams, who joined a since-settled lawsuit against the company for gender discrimination in 2019, told the Post. “If I went anywhere with a Disney attraction, I wouldn’t see Disney as tied to the local art scene.”
It’s still summer
Do you remember yesterday Today it looks similar: sunny, with a high of almost 84 degrees and easterly winds at 5 to 10 miles per hour, which comes from the west in the morning.
Thank you for reading! The word sounded like yesterday’s poem of the day by Anna Maria Hong.
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