New Mexico governor won’t ease state restrictions as Doña Ana County cases near triple digits

SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state officials on Friday showed no signs of backing down on restrictions designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, as the number of cases exceeded 2,500 statewide and approached triple digits in the Las Cruces area.

As of Friday, New Mexico had a total of 84 deaths from the outbreak and 2,521 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There were six new deaths and 153 new infections reported. A half-dozen of those new cases Friday happened in Doña Ana County, putting the total in the Las Cruces area at 94.

The governor said 152 New Mexicans were hospitalized with 38 patients on ventilators. She indicated many of the severest cases were occurring in the northwest corner of the state.

Lujan Grisham on Friday again indicated that she was going to extend her existing public health order, which limits gatherings to five people and forces all non-essential businesses to close, to May 15.

Her comments came as the mayor of Alamogordo wrote to the governor seeking authorization to allow all businesses in his community to reopen, subject to the same restrictions for social distancing and capacity that are already required of essential businesses that have been allowed to operate.

Mayor Richard Boss said Friday that he was still awaiting a response from Lujan Grisham, but added that his letter shouldn't suggest any intent to go against the governor's orders. He said "nothing would change without her direct permission."

The New Mexico Business Coalition, meantime, also sent a letter to the governor signed by 19 other mayors, pleading for an end to the public health order that closed non-essential businesses statewide to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

That letter to Lujan Grisham questions the state’s death projection and cites unprecedented unemployment numbers, pending bankruptcies and other related interruptions.

The mayors of Carlsbad, Estancia, Hatch, Red River, Melrose, Tatum, Magdalena, Eunice, Roswell and Portales signed the New Mexico Business Coalition letter, along with a handful of other small town and village mayors.

The mayor of the small city of Grant has even encouraged small businesses to reopen come Monday in spite of the state prohibition, and implored fellow mayors elsewhere to do the same, but it was unclear how many might actually plan to follow his lead.

Lujan Grisham spokesperson Nora Meyers Sackett responded to the letter from the business coalition by saying that “elected officials attempting to disregard life-saving public health orders are putting the health of the communities at risk.”

She added: “Anyone willfully violating the public health order, which carries full legal weight, could incur legal consequences.”

New Mexico State Police can cite any businesses if they violate the state’s health emergency closure order.

First-time lockdown offenders can be given warnings, second citations for the same offenders are misdemeanors with a fine of up to $100 and third-time violators can be fined up to $5,000.