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Gov. Lujan Grisham tests positive for COVID-19
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, 62, tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday morning, according to a news release from her office. She is currently isolating at the governor’s residence and will continue her official schedule remotely. “I am very grateful to be experiencing only mild symptoms after being fully vaccinated and twice boosted against COVID-19,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Per medical guidance, I have also started a course of the antiviral Paxlovid. I am thankful for the support of my family and staff and will continue my work on behalf of New Mexicans while working remotely. I encourage all New Mexicans who have yet to be vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19 to do so—you can schedule shots at cv.nmhealth.org.” This is the first time the governor has tested positive COVID-19, her office says, prior to which she had last tested negative on Aug. 24. “Following standard protocol, all those defined as close contacts have been notified,” the news release notes. The governor’s positive test comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly “community levels” assessment shows nearly twice as many New Mexico counties now have “green” or low levels, compared to last week (see below in COVID-19 section for details).
Interior Secretary, energy officials visit NM
US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and several federal energy officials visited Farmington yesterday to discuss how the federal Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will address legacy pollution in the state, along with forthcoming investments in new clean energy projects. The visit coincided with DOI’s announcement of an initial $560 million allocation from the infrastructure law to 24 states to start plugging, capping and reclaiming orphaned oil and gas wells. New Mexico, which is receiving an initial $25 million award, has identified 200 such wells, according to DOI, and is one of 12 states prioritizing wells in “disadvantaged communities.” In a statement, Haaland said the infrastructure law “is enabling us to confront long-standing environmental injustices by making a historic investment to plug orphaned wells throughout the country,” with DOI “working on multiple fronts to clean up these sites as quickly as we can by investing in efforts on federal lands and partnering with states and Tribes to leave no community behind.” US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who introduced a bill last year to clean up orphaned wells, described the new funding as a “win” for the environment, public health and workers. “New Mexico’s leadership in regulating methane pollution and cracking down on companies that abandon wells will place it in a very competitive spot to receive additional funding,” she noted in a statement. New Mexico’s Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes and Indian Affairs Department Cabinet Secretary Lynn Trujillo issued joint statements characterizing the new funding, along with a new federal Four Corners working group focused on energy transition, as providing “an unprecedented opportunity to leverage robust support into a clean, renewable economy with equity, fairness, and economic security for residents and tribal communities in Northwest New Mexico.”
City rec center closures start tomorrow
Closures at Fort Marcy in advance of the Sept. 2 Zozobra event start tomorrow, with the tennis court parking lot closed from tomorrow through Sept. 3 (with limited parking available for part of the time); the courts and dog park closed from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3; and the recreation center closed from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6. The Genoveva Chavez Community Center also closes tomorrow for its annual maintenance work and will reopen on Sept. 6. GC3 memberships will be honored at the Fort Marcy Recreation Complex (when it’s open), Salvador Perez and Bicentennial Pool during the closure. And, though it’s more than a week away, all city offices and facilities will be closed on Monday, Sept. 5, aka Labor Day, including the rec centers, senior centers, buses and libraries. If your trash and recycling pickup falls on Labor Day, it will slide forward to Tuesday and, in fact, all the pickup days will slide forward one day under the city’s new residential collection plan.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 646; 608,632 total cases
Deaths: six; Santa Fe County has had 338 total deaths; there have been 8,392 fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 130. Patients on ventilators: 12
Case rates: According to the state health department’s most recent report on geographical trends for the seven-day period of Aug. 15-21, Santa Fe County’s case rate continues to decline and was at 20.5 compared to 26.3 the prior week. The state recorded 3,839 cases statewide—based on reported cases—over the seven-day period, a nearly 15% decrease from the previous week.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent update for COVID-19 “community levels,” updated yesterday, only three New Mexico counties have “red” or high levels—down from four last week. Santa Fe County is one of 22 counties with green, or low levels (compared with 13 last week). The state map, which updates each Thursday for the prior seven-day period, uses a framework that combines case rates with hospital metrics. The community levels site has accompanying recommendations at the bottom of the page. The CDC also provides a quarantine and isolation calculator.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; New Curative testing site: 9 am to 5 pm, Monday-Friday, Santa Fe Technology Department, 2516 Cerrillos Road; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453. Vaccines for children: Parents of children ages 6 months to 5 years can now schedule appointments for vaccinations at VaccineNM.org.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
New Mexico’s film and television industry has been booming. On the most recent episode of KSFR’s Cinema Scope program, actor, PR professional and host Genevieve Trainor talks with SAG-AFTRA New Mexico Local President & SAG-AFTRA Actor Marc Comstock about “the state of film in New Mexico, how actors and filmmakers can bring their A-games as productions ramp up and some exciting predictions for the end of 2022.” Comstock, who moved to New Mexico in 2012, has had recurring roles on The Night Shift and Manhattan and continues to work steadily on the stage. This year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed him to a four-year term on the Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries.
Crying wolf
The Washington Post delves deep into the quest to save the Mexican wolves from extinction in a multi-media story that begins in New Mexico as a private plane above the Gila National Forest carries three 10-day-old pups to their new home. They pups’ lives began at the El Paso Zoo where they were born before being escorted to a “den of a wild wolf pack in the New Mexico mountains, where it was hoped the pups would be adopted into the pack, their genes bolstering an inbred population and helping to restore an apex predator and perhaps eventually providing a link in a chain of wolf populations stretching from Canada to Mexico.” These efforts to reintroduce Mexican wolves are extensive—the Post tracked one mission last spring that required “dozens of humans in four states; transportation by golf cart, pickup, Cessna aircraft and backpack; and a lot of hope.” The imperiled species has been the subject of litigation, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service under a 2018 federal order to do a better job protecting them (Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians, a plaintiff in that case, has substantive resources on the topic).
Feel the pre-burn!
The Burning of Will Shuster’s Zozobra is now one week away, but the pre-game starts this weekend with the annual ZozoFest and Zozobra Art Show 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and noon to 4 pm on Sunday at Santa Fe Place Mall, on the western end of the mall next to Boot Barn. This is a chance to get a first look at this year’s Zozobra before he migrates to Fort Marcy Park for the 98th annual burning. Zozofest also showcases one-of-a-kind Zozobra art. “When the Kiwanis Club builds Zozobra, we accept that we also have to get rid of him,” Zozobra Event Chair Ray Sandoval says in a statement. “This is his purpose, but the artwork created in his likeness lets him stay alive all year-round as a meaningful part of our history and culture.” Among other all-ages activities, Zozofest also features this year’s merch, a chance to meet Zozobra poster artist Bobby Sandoval and, of course, the opportunity to stuff some gloom into Old Man Gloom. Speaking of gloom, SFR also has a gloom box at our office (1512 Pacheco, D105), where you can drop off your woe through Thursday, Sept. 1. After that, you’ll find our box and us on the field at the gloom table for this year’s event, as usual. You can also submit your gloom online here. Also on the Zozobra art tip: The City of Santa Fe, Santa Fe Waldorf School and the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe will unveil new new art celebrating Zozobra and Fuego at 1 pm, Aug. 30. at Fort Marcy ballpark. Lastly, don’t forget: The Zozobra Decades Project hits the 1990s this year (boy bands, Rugrats, plaid shirts and Pokémon cards). Are you as psyched as we are for this year’s burning? If so, reply to this email with a quick note and you could score two free tickets. We will have some more to give away next week as well.
TGIF (grab the umbrella)
Santa Fe has a 60% chance of rain today after 3 pm and a 50% chance tonight, with the National Weather Service forecasting potentially heavy downpours. Otherwise, it will be mostly sunny with a high temperature near 81 degrees. About the same temperature on Saturday with just a 20% chance of rain. Sunday, as of now, looks dry, sunny, with a high temp of 85 degrees.
Thanks for reading! The Word is making her way through looking at Mark Rothko paintings online; planning to check out the meditations at the Santa Fe Community College’s planetarium; and is super happy it’s Friday.