Governor: State "on track" for more reopenings June 1

New Mexico's governor signaled during a Wednesday briefing the state is meeting or close to meeting several criteria and was “on track” to reopen dine-in restaurants, salons, gyms and malls June 1 after they were closed for weeks by the coronavirus pandemic.

Human Services Secretary Richard Scrase said the spread rate of COVID-19 in New Mexico had dropped below the 1.15 target rate, to 1.12, for the first time. The southeast part of the state, which includes Quay County, saw an uptick in the spread rate he attributed to cases that had spilled over from neighboring Texas.

Scrase also said the state is meeting the criteria for intensive-care bed availability and a seven-day supply of personal protective equipment for health-care workers. The only goal New Mexico hadn't met was the COVID-19 testing capacity of 5,000 a day, but Scrase expressed satisfaction with the current rate of 4,400.

With that, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham it is not the time for residents to slacken on social distancing, wearing face masks and other safeguards. Keeping the spread of the virus under control remains important to realize that projected June 1 reopening for those businesses, she said.

Elaborating on a question later in the briefing, the governor said she anticipated a 50% occupancy of dine-in restaurants by June 1 along with several COVID-19 safeguards. She said during another briefing last week she anticipated an additional easing of occupancy restrictions for churches, motels and hotels at that time, as well.

“We are following the public health data, not what other states are doing,” she said of her reopening decisions. “I'm not looking at Arizona. I'm not looking at Texas. ... We're on track.”

Lujan Grisham sounded a note of caution with a large recent increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the border town of El Paso, Texas, which she said would put Dona Ana County and the rest of New Mexico at risk for an upsurge in cases.

Scrase also said there was a strong correlation with disease spread and travel. The governor urged New Mexicans to refrain from unnecessary trips to neighboring states.

“If you have lunch in Lubbock, you're creating risk in Clovis,” Lujan Grisham said.

She said Texas' governor has scaled back reopenings of several cities because of coronavirus problems. That includes the Amarillo metro region, which saw a delay in implementing the second phase of the state's reopening because of an increase in cases there. Amarillo had more than 2,200 active cases as of Wednesday.

In an answer to reporter's question, Lujan Grisham said the New Mexico Legislature would hold a special session on June 18 to deal with state budget problems caused by COVID-19 and an oil-price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. She said she anticipated the session would be completed by that weekend.

The number of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico rose by 134 on Wednesday to a total of 6,317. The death toll rose by seven, to 283.

A total of 206 remain hospitalized by the disease. A total of 1,985 have been deemed to have recovered from COVID-19.

The number of coronavirus cases in Quay County remained at five, with the newest reported May 12.

In the U.S., almost 1.5 million confirmed cases were reported, with more than 93,000 deaths as of Wednesday.