State announces vaccine lottery

The state announced Tuesday as a way to further incentivize COVID-19 vaccinations, it would offer $10 million in prize money and various other prizes to residents who get their vaccines through the state portal.

To be eligible for the cash sweepstakes, New Mexicans who receive or have already received their COVID-19 vaccinations through vaccinenem.gov must opt in to register and verify their personal and vaccination information at vax2themaxnm.org.

The Vax 2 the Max Sweepstakes will award one weekly $250,000 winner from each of the state’s four public health regions, for a total of $1 million in cash prizes each week. A grand prize of $5 million will be awarded at the conclusion of the sweepstakes, in early August, to one winner drawn from the statewide pool of vaccinated New Mexicans who have opted in to the sweepstakes.

“Getting vaccinated is the right thing to do -- for yourself, for your family and for your state,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “I’m excited to add a little fun to our nation-leading vaccination push. New Mexicans have sacrificed a lot over the last year.

Individuals must opt in by 6 p.m. the day prior to each lottery draw. Non-winners in each weekly drawing will automatically be entered into the following week’s lottery. A $250,000 winner is not eligible for additional weekly drawing, but will still remain eligible for the $5 million prize.

The New Mexico Lottery will conduct the cash sweepstakes drawings.

Non-cash prizes include travel packages, fishing and hunting licenses and passes for state museums and parks.

To be eligible to win a prize, individuals must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of the state of New Mexico. Employees of the New Mexico Lottery and the Office of the Governor, as well as any state employees appointed by the governor, and any members of these employees’ households, are not eligible to participate.

In other COVID-19 developments:

• Curry and Roosevelt counties appear poised to miss vaccination benchmarks, but should be yellow or green counties when the state unveils its latest “Red to Green” metrics today.

The state evaluates counties based on the metrics of 10 daily cases per 100,000 residents, test positivity at or below 7.5% and vaccination rates that rise each week. The current benchmark for vaccinations will be 50%.

Turquoise counties make all three metrics and receive the least restrictive public health orders. Green counties make two metrics, yellow counties make one and red counties make none. Bars and clubs may not operate in yellow counties, and indoor dining is not permitted in red counties.

Curry and Roosevelt were not evaluated during the last two-week period due to making turquoise status on May 5. Had they been evaluated, Curry and Roosevelt would have been yellow counties.

Between May 17 and Monday, the latest two-week evaluation period, Curry County had 26 new cases and conducted 1,665 tests — a raw test positivity of 1.56%. Curry County must be under 69 total new cases over the two-week period to make the daily case metric.

During that same period, Roosevelt County had 30 new cases and 719 tests — a raw test positivity rate of 4.17%. Roosevelt County must be under 28 total new cases over the two-week period to make the daily case metric.

According to the state vaccine dashboard, Curry County sat Tuesday at 32.1% and Roosevelt was at 25.8%.

Outside calculation of the benchmarks is not an exact process, because the numbers the state uses to calculate its data are different from the data it provides to the public. Cases are backdated to the date of the test, and duplicate tests are eliminated to calculate test positivity.