New Mexico has released its new county-by-county gating criteria for COVID-19, which is updated once every two weeks. All of the data showed improvement at a county and state level. Seven New Mexico counties are now in the “Yellow” category and Harding County remains in the “Green.”
For Eddy County, our “Cases Per 100,000” dropped from 102.40 during the previous two weeks down to 68.80. Our positivity rate dropped from 27.26 percent down to 18.05 percent. These numbers are still too high, but it is good to see them moving in the right direction. Carlsbad Medical Center reported a positivity rate of 8 percent earlier this week for its testing, so numbers are continuing to improve. We hope we can continue to see these numbers moving in the right direction at an even greater rate. As a reminder, the target “Cases Per 100,000” goal is 8 and the target positivity rate is 5%.
We are still getting significant number of calls every day from people asking for more information about vaccines. Some callers report having trouble with the registration form. The New Mexico Department of Health has put together a walkthrough on the registration process, if you are having any difficulties. We’ve added this walkthrough to the “COVID-19 Information” page on our own webpage, www.cityofcarlsbadnm.com. Users with questions, or those who don’t have internet access, may also call the vaccine hotline at 1-855-600-3453. Getting vaccines to Carlsbad for those who want to have vaccines remains a top priority.
Carlsbad, as the epicenter of the New Mexico’s oil and gas presence, has been in the national news all week. Local business leaders and community members have been interviewed by members of the media and asked for their opinions about President Biden’s executive orders suspending drilling permits. Many have expressed their extreme concerns about the long-term negative impact these orders may have on our community and on the entire state.
Our state and nation are currently working to recover from the massive economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We maintain the vast oil and gas resources beneath the Delaware Basin are the key to that recovery, and they also offer us all a singular opportunity for our state to move past decades of poverty.
Unchecked, these suspensions may ultimately cost tens of thousands of New Mexicans their jobs and result in this state losing billions of dollars, which could have been invested in schools, in our seniors, and in our roads. We call on all members of our federal legislative delegation, the governor, our state delegation, and all concerned residents of New Mexico to to work to change these harmful executive orders.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway