New Mexico governor outlines vaccine plans, limits some surgeries amid ‘dramatic’ hospitalizations

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday called New Mexico's Covid-19 hospitalization numbers "very frightening" as she and other state officials issued a new public health order limiting non-essential surgeries.

At an afternoon briefing, the governor also indicated that the first doses of virus vaccine from drug maker Pfizer are expected to arrive in New Mexico within 24 hours of final federal approval.

The developments come as New Mexico continues to report more than 1,000 new virus cases a day and dozens of daily deaths.

On Thursday, the state had 1,791 new cases for a tally of 114,731 to date. There were 109 new cases in Doña Ana County for a total of 15,106.

There were also 23 added deaths reported in the state for a pandemic total of 1,846. Two of those deaths, a woman in her 40s and man in his 70s, occurred in Doña Ana County for a county total of 223.

The rate of positive test results for the coronavirus has declined over the past two weeks, at the same time that average deaths have increased.

The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in New Mexico decreased from 22.6% to 15.2%, while the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in New Mexico has risen over the past two weeks from 23 deaths per day to nearly 28 deaths per day.

Under the new health order, all hospital acute care facilities in the state may not provide non-essential surgical procedures. Surgeries are deemed non-essential if their delay won’t present risk to the patients’ health.

The order will begin Friday and run through at least Jan. 4; it does not apply to emergency medical care. For more details on what is considered essential and nonessential surgeries under the new order, click here.

The governor and other state leaders said they hoped this measure would keep New Mexico hospitals from becoming too overwhelmed.

On Thursday there were 916 patients hospitalized for the virus across the state - a number that Lujan Grisham called "dramatic." Of those hospitalized, 159 required the use of ventilators.

Human Services Secretary David Scrase added that hospitals are reaching alarming statistical milestones as they cope with pandemic patients. The coronavirus accounts for more than 50% of patients at some hospitals, he said. Every patient is on a ventilator breathing machine in at least one intensive care unit.

On the vaccine front, the governor said there are currently 17,500 doses of the vaccine reserved for New Mexico, which plans to distribute the initial allotment to health workers at high or moderate risk of exposure.

Responding to the announcement that a U.S. advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for possible final approval, Lujan Grisham said that “we're on track, it looks like, to have those vaccines shipped out early next week.”

Lujan Grisham said the state has sent notifications to 37 hospitals that are expected to receive initial vaccines.

“Given the limited number of Pfizer vaccine doses available in the first shipment, we are prioritizing hospital personnel at moderate and high risk of exposure to infection, whether directly through patients or through handling of infectious materials,” the letter stated.

You can watch the entire governor's briefing in the video player below.

Below you can see county-by-county data for virus cases and deaths across New Mexico. The data comes from Johns Hopkins University, so the numbers may sometimes vary a bit from what's reported by the state health department. (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)