Quay stays in red

As expected, Quay County stayed in the red zone during the latest county-by-county COVID-19 risk evaluations announced Wednesday by the state.

The next evaluation is Dec. 30.

Quay County wasn’t alone in the red zone. All 33 of New Mexico’s counties landed in the worst rating of the graduated red-to-green criteria that determine how much their individual counties can reopen their economies during the pandemic.

Even neighboring San Miguel County, which had been placed in the yellow zone earlier, fell into the red Wednesday.

Signs of improvement emerged during the previous two weeks, however. Twenty-five counties, including Quay, improved in both health gating criteria metrics.

Quay County saw a test-positivity rate of 20.4% during the previous two-week period ending Nov. 30. That improved to 14.3% by Dec. 14.

The county’s caseload per 100,000 people was 63.5 on Dec. 14, well above the gating criteria of 8 per 100,000. But that compares to an even-higher rate of 77.4 per 100,000 ending Nov. 30.

Neighboring Harding County was among three counties that saw the greatest improvement in per-capita case rates during the latest evaluation period. Harding also saw the state’s lowest average per-capita rate, at 10.0 per 100,000.

Meanwhile, the neighboring counties of Union, De Baca, San Miguel, Guadalupe also saw one or both of their numbers worsen.

During the state’s weekly health briefing Thursday, a reporter asked about sparsely populated Harding County and how just two confirmed coronavirus cases there would throw it into a stricter-restrictions zone.

Human Service Secretary David Scrase said the criteria for reopenings must be applied equitably, including small-population counties such as Harding. Scrase added that even just two COVID-19 cases could rapidly infect everyone in that county.

Here are the restrictions for counties in the red zone such as Quay:

• Essential businesses (non-retail): No capacity restrictions but must limit operations to those only absolutely necessary to carry out essential functions;

• Essential retail spaces: 25% of maximum capacity;

• Food and drink establishments: No indoor dining allowed and 25% of maximum capacity for outdoor dining; any establishment serving alcohol must close by 9 p.m. nightly;

• Close-contact businesses: 25% of maximum capacity or 10 customers at one time, whichever is smaller;

• Outdoor recreational facilities: 25% of maximum capacity (unless required to have less capacity under the state’s COVID-Safe Practices);

• Close-contact recreational facilities: Remain closed;

• All other businesses: 25% of maximum capacity or 75 customers at one time, whichever is smaller

• Houses of worship: May hold religious services, indoors or outdoors, or provide services through audiovisual means but may not exceed 25% of capacity of any enclosed space on the premises;

• Places of lodging: 40% of maximum occupancy for those that have completed NM Safe Certified training and 25% of maximum occupancy for all others; five guests maximum for vacation rentals;

• Mass gatherings limit: five persons and 10 vehicles.