Santa Fe County Progresses to Turquoise

Santa Fe today advanced to the least restrictive level in the state's public health framework—turquoise—joining 12 other New Mexico counties that have remained green for two biweekly assessments.

As for the other 20 counties, 10 are green and 10 are yellow—none are red. Overall, 17 counties advanced to less restrictive levels. Today's results represent a notable shift from two weeks ago, as illustrated by the map below.

"Everyone can just sit back and appreciate that transition from yellow to green and green to turquoise and maybe smile a little bit that we've made this much progress and it's great to see," Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said during a news conference today.

Every other week, the health department evaluates counties' case and test positivity rates for a two-week period under its red-to-green framework. Counties with fewer than eight cases per 100,000 and test positivity rates of less than 5% are classified as green and allowed larger business capacities and other activities. Those meeting one criteria are considered yellow and those meeting neither are red and face the most restrictions. On Feb. 24, the state added an even more expansive turquoise level for those counties that maintain their green status for two consecutive evaluations.

Santa Fe County, as of today, has 6.30 cases per 100,000 and a test positivity rate of 1.75% (extremely close to the figures SFR calculated yesterday using the available raw data). Turquoise status allows for increased capacities across a spectrum of businesses and activities, bumping up indoor dining capacity to 75%, allowing bars to open indoors at 33% capacity and increasing mass gatherings to 150 people. Find all the details for the different levels of the public health law here.

However, Scrase said today officials are "doing a major reassessment of the red, yellow, green, turquoise framework." As it relates to the case rates, an immediate, possibly temporary change has been made for the state's seven smallest counties. Currently, these counties' ability to maintain a case rate of eight cases per 100,000 can be thrown off by just a few cases. In the case of Harding County, just one case over the course of 14 days changes its standing in the red-to-green framework.

To curtail these small counties shifting back and forth in the framework, Scrase said, all will be treated as though they have populations of 6,250, which allows for seven or fewer cases in that time period.

Officials also are re-evaluating the test positivity criteria. As the number of vaccinated people increases, officials expect decreased testing for COVID-19, particularly following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent guidance that asymptomatic vaccinated people do not require a test after potential exposures to the disease.

The vast majority of people being tested, Scrase said, have not had symptoms. Thus, as fewer people take COVID-19 tests, the test positivity rates will increase. "We think in the next two to four weeks that will become a real phenomena," Scrase said, "and we don't want to start penalizing counties as that test positivity rate moves up."

As for what criteria might be used instead, that remains to be seen. "We certainly want to find those metrics that are the best possible reflection of disease activity in counties," Scrase said, "and with the vaccination coming through, it's changed the way we're thinking about it."

Regarding vaccinations, as of today New Mexico is in first place nationally for vaccination by population, although Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins said, demand continues to outpace supply. Currently, nearly 40% of New Mexicans have had at least one shot and 24.2% have been fully vaccinated. Last week, the state opened up vaccinations to the remaining subgroups in Phase1B, as well as all of Phase 1C. Collins said she anticipates all New Mexicans will become eligible mid-April. In the immediate future, the state expects 116,280 doses next week, an approximate 20,000 dose increase.

• Cibola County Correctional Center: 446
• Otero County Federal Prison Facility: 443
• Otero County Processing Center: 197
• Torrance County Detention Facility: 47

Cases among people being held by the New Mexico Department of Corrections

• Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 292
• Guadalupe County Correctional Facility: 251
• Lea County Correctional Facility: 758
• Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Union County: 167
• Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 126
• Otero County Prison Facility: 472
• Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 215
• Roswell Correctional Center: 230
• Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Doña Ana County: 229
• Springer Correctional Center in Colfax County: 151
• Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Cibola County: 75

*Per the health department, hospitalization figures include people who were tested elsewhere but are hospitalized in New Mexico, but don't include people who were tested here but are hospitalized out of state.