State continues to improve with 23 counties in green or turquoise

SANTA FE — New Mexico is continuing to make improvements in the fight against COVID-19 spread, as evidenced by 23 counties in either green or turquoise status and passing the one-third mark in getting citizens fully vaccinated.

But there are still various questions state officials admit they can’t quite answer.

Human Services Secretary David Scrase said tweaks were likely coming to the state’s “Red to Green” plan, which assigns each county a status based on the benchmarks of daily cases (8 or fewer per 100,000) and test positivity (5% or lower). A red county meets neither, a yellow county meets one, a green county meets both and a county that stays green for two consecutive two-week data periods becomes turquoise.

Curry County joined the turquoise designation with 4.4 daily cases per 100K and 2.1% test positivity, while Roosevelt County stayed there with 3.2 daily cases per 100K and 1.07% test positivity.

The turquoise public health order permits 75% capacity at essential retail spaces and most businesses, 75% capacity at houses of worship and dining at 75% capacity outside and inside. Additionally, prep sports can allow spectators inside at 33% indoor capacity and 75% outdoor capacity and the mass gatherings definition moves to 150 people or 200 vehicles.

“The goal is to get people to green or turquoise and keep them there,” Scrase said. “We should expect, barring some variant disaster or vaccine resistance, the more people who get vaccinated the less cases we should see.”

Two weeks prior, Scrase said the state was looking at de-emphasizing the test positivity metric, but on Wednesday admitted the state was still looking at what metrics would replace it. More vaccinations means fewer tests, and eventually test positivity will reflect that.

“In the most extreme example,” Scrase said, “if there's one person left who isn't vaccinated and they get sick, it's 100% test positivity.”

Whatever the new metric becomes, Scrase said, it is important to ensure the numbers don’t push counties back into the yellow or red status. He envisions the state keeping the “Red to Green” system in place through late May or early June, but would love to be proven wrong before that.

Regarding questions about possible “vaccine passports,” Scrase said the state does not have any such plan and that private businesses are free to impose any restrictions they want. If vaccine passports do gain traction, Scrase believes a national approach is best because 50 different sets of rules would prove burdensome.

In other COVID-19 developments:

• The state announced 126 new COVID-19 cases Friday, with no cases in Curry or Roosevelt counties. The two reported deaths were both from Sandoval County.

Since Monday, Curry County has reported three COVID-19 cases, while Roosevelt has reported five.

The Department of Health announced Friday it would stop issuing daily reports on Saturdays and Sundays, and instead release consolidated reports on Mondays.

• Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said the state will receive 109,950 vaccination doses this week, including 3,700 of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson. She added that trials are underway for youth, and Pfizer is showing 100% efficacy in the 12-15 age group.

• New Mexico public school students will be offered school-based COVID-19 testing opportunities. Student testing will be completely voluntary and at no cost to those who participate. Districts and charter schools will implement student testing programs as soon as possible but no later than the week of April 26.

Students who show proof of being fully vaccinated and students who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days will not be asked to participate. Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said the goal is to test 1% of general students weekly and 10% of students participating in extracurricular activities.

“This will help build public confidence that schools are safe,” Stewart said. “By testing student volunteers, we can get better information about what's happening in schools with the virus and get communication out into the community about how our precautionary measures are working.”