SANTA FE – New Mexico’s hospital officials on Monday urged the public to cancel social visits, wash hands and wear masks to reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations.
They say the expected delivery of 17,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine won’t be a silver bullet for an overstretched workforce of doctors, nurses, techs and other hospital staff.
“It will help them so that they feel a little more sure about not bringing this home to their families. Will this be a huge increase in our health care force? It will not,” said University of New Mexico Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Irene Agostini.
The state’s top insurance regulator announced several directives Monday aimed at safeguarding access to health insurance, COVID-19 testing and treatment.
One directive from Insurance Superintendent Russell Toal puts a freeze on recent proposals by commercial insurers to exclude coverage for various risks presented by COVID-19, as regulators emphasize the need for “consistent and equitable review under meaningful substantive criteria.”
The suspension lasts through the March end of the 2021 regular legislative session and possibly longer. Another bulletin reminds insurance companies of existing rules against “cost-sharing” in which medical patients are billed for coronavirus testing, diagnosis and treatment.
During the week ending Sunday, one person in every 165 people statewide was diagnosed with COVID-19.
New Mexico also is among the top 10 states for newly confirmed cases per capita over the past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project.
On Monday, health officials reported 1,872 newly confirmed infections and seven related deaths. There were 26 new cases among inmates held by federal agencies at the Cibola County Corrections Center.
Healthcare leaders said Monday that their workers are getting COVID-19 from friends, family and community members more than co-workers and patients.
At least 18 health care workers are known to have died from COVID-19 before the start of December.
“When we lose a health care worker, we lose our ability to take care of, you know, hundreds of other New Mexicans,” Human Service Secretary David Scrase said last week in a news conference.
On Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham set the table for legal protections for hospitals for a scenario in which they have to triage, or ration medical care due to being swamped by COVID-19 patients.
“All of our health care workers also have been working and working and working, and they will continue to work for you. But please, please don’t put us in a position to have to ration care,” Agostini said.
Business closures as a result of repeated coronavirus infections have slowed to a trickle in recent weeks. The Environment Department shut down one business during the week ending Dec. 6 – a Chick-Fil-A outlet in Santa Fe.
The current public health order mandates certain establishments close for two weeks if they have four or more rapid responses within the last 14 days.
On Friday, the state began requiring employers to notify the state within four hours of learning about a positive case.
Cedar Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.