COVID-19 UPDATE FROM THE GOVERNOR
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state health officials announced this afternoon the state of New Mexico will temporarily re-enact a statewide order closing in-person services for all non-essential activities in order to blunt the unprecedented spike of COVID-19 illnesses and to attempt to relieve dramatically escalating strain on hospitals and health care providers across the state.
New Mexicans are instructed to stay at home except for only those trips that are essential to health, safety and welfare – such as for food and water, emergency medical care, to obtain a flu shot or to obtain a test for COVID-19.
Essential businesses – such as grocery stores, pharmacies, shelters, child care facilities, gas stations, infrastructure operations and others – must minimize operations and in-person staffing to the greatest extent possible but may remain open for limited essential in-person activities.
Here is the link for the full list of essential business and more detailed information.
Non-essential businesses: include close-contact businesses like barbershops, salons, gyms) close contact rec. facilities. These must reduce in-person workforce and activities by 100%
Starting Monday houses of worship may operate at 25% of maximum occupancy or 75 persons at any one time, whichever is smaller.
Essential retail spaces like: laundromats, hardware stores, grocery stores, etc. may operate at either 25% of maximum of occupancy or no more than 75 customers in the store at one time.
Restaurants may continue to provide curbside pick-up, in-door dinning is not allowed.
After Nov. 30th, the state will implement a 3-tier county-by-county system using county level public health data to establish “re-opening” benchmarks.
For example: green, yellow, and red; red being the highest benchmark and counties will be unable to reopen.
This is going to permit counties the flexibility to engage more directly with business activities with the department of health’s approval when they are able to drive down infection rates and prevent community outbreaks.
What you can do to help New Mexico:
Stay home, wear your masks, wash/sanitize your hands frequently, and don’t congregate with other people, especially people you don’t live with, and rethink your holiday plans.
Contact numbers and websites are:
Togethernm.org: to findCovid-19 testing sites
Health insurance assistance call 1-833-415-0566
Unemployment assistance: visit jobs.state.nm.us
1-855-600-3453: for state health information hotline
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