Governor: Restrictions to be lifted at 60% vaccinated

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday said New Mexico’s red-to-turquoise COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted once 60% of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated against the disease. That is projected to happen by late June.

Following guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention earlier in the week, the state also lifted the mask mandate for outdoor exercise. Masks will continue to be required indoors indefinitely.

Regarding the projected reopening of the state’s economy, Lujan Grisham said: “We are conquering COVID. This is cause for celebration.” She added New Mexico would be the first to reopen “in the safest possible way.”

Through Friday, more than 42% of New Mexico’s residents had been fully vaccinated.

The governor noted during a health briefing Wednesday that 961,000 New Mexico residents already had received one shot of a vaccine. It would take those people receiving the second shot, plus about 48,000 more being fully vaccinated, to reach 1.008 million being fully vaccinated, or 60%.

Human Services Secretary David Scrase said state health officials came up with the 60% goal after monitoring data. He noted deaths and hospitalizations with nursing home residents saw a huge drop once vaccinations hit the 70% range. Similar results occurred when 70% of public school teachers were immunized, he said.

He said by the time New Mexico is 60% fully vaccinated, it would be a situation where COVID-19 would be “not completely gone but you can live a reasonably normal life.”

Health Secretary Tracie Collins said New Mexico still ranks No. 1 in the nation in vaccine distribution.

Residents who haven’t been vaccinated can register at the state’s portal at vaccineNM.org and self-schedule their shots. Those who need help with registration can call 1-855-600-3453 and press 1. Senior citizens or the disabled can call 1-800-432-2080 for assistance.

Collins said employees from the state’s Department of Health and Aging and Long-Term Services Department will call to help senior citizens in the coming days.

Lujan Grisham said residents need to maintain COVID-safe practices even after the state hits the 60% vaccination range because thousands of children up to age 16 cannot get the shots yet. For that reason and others, she said she would keep the public health emergency in place.

In a follow-up question, the governor said masks still will be mandated for children participating in youth sports because of that inability to be immunized.

Scrase added the mask mandate “will be one of the last things to do” with the state’s public health orders.

Scrase said the state has recorded 270 people who’ve contracted COVID-19 after being vaccinated, including four deaths.

Through Friday, 36.9% of Quay County residents had been given at least one COVID-19 vaccine, and 29.9% were fully vaccinated. Both numbers rose about 1 1/2 percentage points in a week.

The county’s health providers administered about 150 doses of vaccine in the past week, according to data provided by Trigg Memorial Hospital, Quay County Family Health Center, Quay County Public Health Office and Bestcare Pharmacy.

The Annex Bar and Grill in Logan will host a vaccination event from 10 a.m. to noon May 13 in conjunction with the state Department of Health. Instructions on how to get an event code for a shot will be posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Tom Robinson, a pharmacist at Bestcare, expressed concerns some residents aren’t getting the recommended second shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and thus lack full protection from COVID-19.

“People are getting complacent,” he said.