All NM counties moved to turquoise designation

Citing a significant drop in new COVID-19 cases over the Memorial Day weekend, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday executed a public health order that places all 33 New Mexico counties in the turquoise level.

A Department of Health release noted that between Saturday and Tuesday, the state confirmed 380 new cases — less than half of the gating target of 210 per day.

“We’re almost there,” the governor said in a release. “New Mexicans are making the right choices: Getting vaccinated so we can all safely resume our lives and so our small businesses and economy can roar back to life. Please encourage your friends and family to register if they haven’t already -- and keep up the hard work as, all together, we push toward ending the worst of the pandemic.”

The color-coded system measures counties on the benchmarks of 10 daily cases per 100,000 people, 7.5% test positivity or lower and vaccination rates that increase with each passing week. Turquoise counties meet all three benchmarks, while green counties meet two, yellow counties meet one and red counties meet none.

Had the state measured counties under this framework, 28 counties would have been operating at the turquoise level while five counties — including Roosevelt and De Baca — would have moved back to the yellow designation.

Once the state reaches a 60% full vaccination rate, the state plans to graduate out of the color-coded system and remove most pandemic-related restrictions.