NM Gov declares ‘public health emergency’ amid coronavirus cases

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | March 11, 2020 | Dan McKay, Jessica Dyer and Shelby Perea

[CedarDave]

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a public health emergency Wednesday as the first cases of COVID-19 surfaced in New Mexico.

To slow transmission of the virus, the governor urged people to avoid public gatherings, sanitize common surfaces and minimize contact with other individuals, even if it means staying home from church or going out less often.

Three New Mexico residents tested positive for COVID-19 early Wednesday and are now isolating themselves at home — the first confirmed cases in the state, the governor said.

All three cases, she said, are travel-related — a good sign because it means New Mexico hasn’t yet seen the virus otherwise spreading throughout the community.

Two of the cases are a Socorro County husband and wife, both in their 60s, who had traveled internationally, including to Egypt, state officials said. Both are in isolation at their home.

The third case is a woman in her 70s in Bernalillo County who had traveled recently to the New York City area. She is also isolated at home.

The state is now investigating any contacts the infected New Mexicans had with other people in the state. The Department of Health is also stepping up surveillance among particularly vulnerable populations, such as elderly or disabled adults living in group homes.

“This is very highly infectious virus, ... This is a serious situation,” Lujan Grisham told reporters Wednesday. But “I will use every tool and resource to keep us safe.”

She urged citizens to avoid public gatherings of all kinds, such as neighborhood association meetings and the state high school basketball tournament happening this week in the metro area.

“If you minimize contact with other human beings,” Lujan Grisham said, “you will help us contain this virus.”

[CedarDave]

I'm not sure three cases requires declaring an emergency and maybe she's just being proactive. But on the other hand, all Dem politicians like to use a crisis as a way to increase their power over the citizens.

[CedarDave]

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[CatOwner]

Yes, the DEM governors and legislatures want to be able to say they were first to act, and any deaths and economic crashes due to COVAD-19 are the fault of Trump.

[bkopto]

How much of an emergency can it be if the schools are still open, where the virus will spread like wildfire if it shows up.

[CedarDave]

How much of an emergency can it be if the schools are still open, where the virus will spread like wildfire if it shows up?

The next line after the excerpt said just that:

But there is no need to cancel school or move to online-only classes yet, the governor said.

[Travis McGee]

Please note this is a log graph, that is, the straight line means exponential growth.

The numbers in the USA are 3 weeks behind Italy's.

[Travis McGee]

Just look at Italy to see where the USA will be in 2 weeks.

Cutting off social interaction BEFORE an local case explosion is the way to go. This is what they did in S. Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, along with aggressive testing, contact tracing, and rigid quarantine.

Italy, Europe and the USA took the “Let’s just wait and see” attitude. Italy is paying first, we are just in line behind them.

[wtd]

• 

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[bkopto]

Completely agree.

This is the long-awaited black swan event.

The schools should have been closed yesterday.

Everyone should look at the Peak Prosperity youtube channel for daily updates.

[Cold Heart]

My wife has cough, weakness, exhaustion and fatigue. No respiratory at this time. She is recovering from a stroke and has chronic heart failure. So far we are blaming it on her heart medicine because those are some of the side affects listed. We both got our flu and pneumonia shots.

I don’t think I can convince her to self quarantine at this time. A declaration by our governor (Oregon) would probably help me convince her.

[laplata]

Are you and your wife going out very much?

[nhwingut]

Got an age on that fancy graph? Would be useful.

[LegendHasIt]

Well, crud. I was kinda hoping (but didn’t really expect) that all of us hicks in NM would be spared.

I completely agree with what Dave said in comment #1.... Does any federal taxpayer money come with declaring a Corona Virus Emergency yet?

I’m sure it will soon, with both Democrats and Republicans in D.C. trying to spread socialism and corporate welfare as fast as they can with this as an excuse.

[laplata]

Best wishes to you and your wife. God bless you.

[Cold Heart]

Cardiac therapy, cardiologist, speech therapist. and that’s about it. Her medicine has her blood pressure way down to where she is light headed. We can hike for a mile but it takes a day or two to recover.

I’m thinking we may want to not go anywhere else for awhile.

Our Bible study group does a soup kitchen at our church once a month to relieve the regular crew. We are all over 60 and one of the leaders was saying we may need to rethink our exposure there.

[laplata]

You seem to be dealing with it all very sensibly.

Best wishes and God bless you both.