Santa Fe Public Schools Mandates Masks for All

COVID-19 by the numbers

New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 1,076 new COVID-19 cases for the three-day period of July 31-Aug. 2 (a 70% increase from last Monday’s three-day case reporting). There have now been a total of 211,492 cases; the health department has designated 197,079 of those cases as recovered.

Bernalillo County had 340 cases, followed by Eddy County with 96 and Sandoval County with 85. Santa Fe County had 56 new cases.

The state also announced four additional deaths, two recent and two from more than 30 days ago; there have now been 4,414 total fatalities. As of yesterday, 148 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Currently, 73.2% of New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 65% are fully vaccinated. In the 12-17-year-old age group, 49.6% have had at least one dose and 39% have been fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, among those 18 years and older, 83.6% have had at least one dose and 74.9% are fully inoculated.

You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.

SFPS: Everyone will mask inside

All Santa Fe Public School students and staff will be required to wear masks inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status, when classes begin Aug. 6. Masks will be optional outside. “Our first priority is to ensure a safe learning environment for both students and staff,” Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez said in a statement. “We want everyone to be protected, especially those who cannot yet be vaccinated. Requiring masks inside of school buildings and on school buses is the best course right now given the current status of the coronavirus.” A district news release says the decision announcement aligns with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations last week for universal masking in schools, as well the American Academy of Pediatrics’s guidance that all students older than 2 years and all school staff should wear face masks at school. The day prior to the CDC guidance, however, the New Mexico Public Education Department had issued its own back-to-school guidance allowing vaccinated secondary students who provide documentation to not wear masks inside. State education officials have said they are reviewing the CDC guidance but had not, as of this writing, made any changes.SFPS will hold a town hall from 6 to 7 pm today on YouTube to take questions on a variety of topics, including the masking requirements; facility readiness; the Desert Sage Academy remote learning option; personal protective equipment (PPE) and surveillance testing. The district says it will also post an FAQ on masks and safety measures by the end of today on its website. In other school-related news, the University of New Mexico yesterday reversed course and announced it will mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all students, faculty and staff by the end of September, including those on its branch campuses.

DOH launches more vaccine incentives, urges testing

Yesterday, the state health department kicked off a second round of $100 COVID-19 vaccine incentives in a program (“Stay Ahead New Mexico”) running through August. All New Mexicans 12 years an older are eligible if they receive a first or second of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or a dose of the single-shot J&J vaccine (but anyone under the age of 18 will need permission from a parent or guardian, who will receive the incentive). No more than one $100 incentive will be distributed per person. To be eligible for the incentive, New Mexicans must receive a vaccine by the end of the month, and will have to opt in with an email, phone number or home address at vaccineNM.org/stay-ahead (or call 1-855-600-3453 for assistance). DOH also yesterday reinforced the need for everyone—regardless of vaccination status—to take COVID-19 tests should they have COVID-19 symptoms; contact with someone who has tested positive and is infectious; or is a patient scheduled for surgery or hospitalization. Unvaccinated people should be tested regardless of symptoms if they live or work in high-risk congregate settings. “The rapid emergence of the Delta variant in New Mexico, going from 25% to 80% in four weeks, means that many more New Mexicans may be infected in the coming weeks,” Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said in a statement. “Testing is that important first step that allows us to identify and isolate cases before the virus can spread to friends, family and others.”

Streetlight conversion will include ongoing updates

The Santa Fe City Council yesterday amended its streetlight conversion contract with Dalkia Energy Solutions, which lowers the color temperature in residential areas to 2,700 kelvin (they will be set at 3,000 kelvin on other city streets). The amendment follows public concern about the project’s impact on the city’s night skies, and also requires ongoing public engagement throughout the installation. For example, Dalkia must provide regular updates on its website and create a new feedback form when the conversion is underway. Additionally, the company must maintain a phone line during the works and services phases and place door hangers on the project at 4% of residential addresses that include QR-codes to the link with the project website and feedback form. Dalkia also is required to collect before and after aerial drone footage of lighting conditions. The contract also extends the company’s deadline. Councilors voted 6-3 to approve the amended contract, with Councilors Chris Rivera, Renee Villarreal and JoAnne Vigil Coppler dissenting. Villarreal and Councilor Michael Garcia had both proposed another amendment that had more detail on the public participation process, as well increased engagement and presentations between phases.

Listen up

The No More Normal podcast series, a collaboration between the Santa Fe Reporter, KUNM and New Mexico PBS, came to a close over the weekend, with a special two-hour episode devoted to former KUNM News Director and reporter Hannah Colton, who died last November by suicide at age 29. Guests included: Hannah’s parents Kathy and Brad Colton; her KUNM colleagues and friends Marisa Demarco, Nash Jones, Khalil Ekulona, Ty Bannerman, Kaveh Mowahed, Yasmin Khan, Taylor Velazquez and Megan Kamerick; her close personal friends Keegan Kloer, Aaron Bumgarner, Marya Errin Jones, Adri De La Cruz, Austin Fisher, Monica Demarco and Marina Daldalian; and her sources Melanie Yazzie, along with Dan and Denise Williams.

CCA set to reopen

No worries if you missed the Center for Contemporary Arts’ soft reopening last Friday, as the theater will fully reopen on Aug. 6. “We’re excited, and I truly mean that,” Cinema Director Peter Grendle tells SFR Culture Editor Alex De Vore. “We have a lot of film that caters toward our classic members and the people who have supported the CCA this whole time, and a lot of film that is hopefully going to reach out to a different crowd that maybe hasn’t heard of or visited CCA.” The first films slated to screen include David Lowery’s The Green Knight; Leos Carax’s Annette (written by Ron and Russell Mael of celebrated indie band Sparks); and The Truffle Hunters, a documentary. As for CCA’s satellite theater, The Screen, situated on the limbo Midtown campus, Grendle says CCA remains in discussions with the city about its future and he will personally “die trying” to reopen The Screen (where he once worked as well).

NM artists upend immigration narrative

The Los Angeles Times arts newsletter includes Santa Fe’s Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian’s exhibit, “Indigenous Women: Border Matters,” (through Oct. 3), in a look at works that “upend the idea of border as binary.” Arts and urban design columnist Carolina A. Miranda writes that “exhibitions about the US-Mexico border can often take on the feel of bilateral dispute.” Not so at the Wheelwright, she notes, where curator Andrea Hanley’s show examines “the ways in which modern notions of the border have disrupted Indigenous life.” Miranda makes particular mention of artist Daisy Quezada Ureña, whose sculptural depictions of women’s clothing “are a gripping memento mori to the steep bodily price often paid by female immigrants to the United States.” Miranda also includes the exhibit “Passage,” through Aug. 8, at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at the Mesa Arts Center in Arizona. That show, as it happens, features New Mexico-based artist Cannupa Hanska Luger (Madan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, European), and a collaborative installation he conceived called “Something to Hold Onto,” in which thousands of handmade clay beads represent lives lost along the US-Mexico border over the last 30 years.

Stay on dry land

The National Weather Service says we’re looking at a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms today, mainly after noon, on an otherwise partly sunny day with a high near 81 degrees (chances for rain tonight before 9 pm are 60%). While the weather should dry up later this week, today poses the greatest threat for flooding, according to meteorologists.

Thanks for reading! Despite her love for animals, The Word would not have expected to feel so much emotion about dung beetles, but this NYT story about them becoming lost on starless nights is pretty compelling.