Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other state officials have planned a remote news conference for Wednesday afternoon, “to provide an update on COVID-19 efforts and emergency public health orders in New Mexico,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
It begins at 4 p.m. and will be streamed live on the governor’s Facebook page.
Much of New Mexico’s business community is hoping Lujan Grisham might announce plans to relax restrictions in her stay-at-home order that’s scheduled to expire on Friday.
But not everyone is optimistic.
“The stuff I’m hearing today is not sounding too inspiring on how much we’ll get relaxed,” Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karl Terry said on Monday. “I’m getting mixed signals as to where we’re actually at.”
On Tuesday, Terry added, “People I’ve been talking to are not hopeful that anything will change.”
Curry County Chamber Director Ernie Kos, like Terry, said local business owners are working to have safety measures in place when restrictions are lifted, but she said Monday that “No one seems to know for sure,” if things will change this week.
While the governor did not offer any clues about what she’ll say on Wednesday, she posted the following to her Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon:
“Reopening must be guided by the public health data. We have to learn to live in a COVID-19 world until there is a vaccine, but that doesn't mean we knowingly put anybody, including our health care workers, at risk.”
The state has been averaging 160 new COVID-19 cases per day over the past two weeks. The state averaged 105 new cases daily during April, but testing has also increased dramatically in recent weeks.
The state has averaged more than 3,800 tests daily in the past week. It averaged just over 3,000 tests daily the first week of May, and just 2,250 tests per day the last week of April.
The number of COVID-19 patients classified as “recovered” have doubled in the past two weeks (705 on April 28 to 1,434 on Tuesday).
Clayton grocery store owner Brian Moore, who co-chairs the governor’s Economic Recovery Council, said Tuesday night he has “Not a clue!” about the governor’s plans.
Moore said in a text message the recovery council is scheduled to meet Wednesday morning “to hear from the medical team … we’ll see what the numbers look like.”
Moore said Lujan Grisham usually participates in the recovery council’s meetings, which are held remotely.
