Doña Ana County urges state to ‘send us more’ after distributing 25,000 free face masks to public
DOÑA ANA COUNTY, New Mexico -- The Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office is asking the governor's office for more masks to distribute to the public as the virus spreads throughout southern New Mexico.
"Send us more and we’ll pass out more," Sheriff Kim Stewart told Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Sheriff Stewart and her staff passed out nearly 2,000 masks Friday in the hot sun over the course of nearly two hours. In total, DASO has distributed 25,000 since the pandemic began, Sheriff Stewart told ABC-7.
In her Thursday news conference, Governor Lujan Grisham said her goal is to have 80 to 90 percent of New Mexicans wearing masks in public.
"We can't be at our highest number of cases" to fully go back to work and school, said Dr. David Scrase, one of her cabinet members.
On Friday, the state announced a Doña Ana County man in his 60s had died from the virus, along with four others across the state.
“If this many people are willing to sit on a hot day in line for over an hour, it tells me that they are wanting to comply and they are wanting to do their part," Sheriff Stewart said.
