Coronavirus Update:  March 17

New Mexico: 

Testing is ramping up.  As of this morning the NM Dept. of Health (click here) reports 1270 tests so far.  On March 14 they had tested only 247 persons.  We won't know how serious things are in New Mexico until a lot more people are tested, but from the publicly available information, New Mexico appears to be well ahead of El Paso and Cd. Juárez in preparation.  Governor Michelle chewed out the President on a phone call that was recorded when he told a group of governors they were on their own as far as stocking up on ventilators.  What good is an expensive federal health care system when it fails in an emergency?

Comment:  Governor Cuomo sobered up the entire nation when he revealed that if the current rate of spread continues 40%-60% of New Yorkers will contract coronavirus, and so far about 17% of those who get it need hospitalization, while NY only has 50,000 beds available.  For a few moments Cuomo was a substitute President, the entire nation watching, and he delivered the mail.

El Paso

In Texas the state health department acknowledged the presence of coronavirus only on March 11.  Today the map (click here) shows spreading in Dallas, Houston and other spots.  I have had a hard time finding information about the total number of tests given.  Governor Gregg Abbot said yesterday "By the end of this week, everyone who needs a COVID-19 test will get a COVID-19 test."  But it is not clear what he meant by "everyone who needs a COVID-19 test:  all persons who have symptoms?  only those who are known to have traveled to hotspots abroad or on cruise ships with the virus?  That would not be enough.  El Paso has closed down all schools, including private and charter schools, and in the past few days local and state governments have seemed to wake up to the severity of the crisis.  But there has been none of the urgency in public statements by top officials that we have sensed in Governor Lujan-Grisham or in Governor Cuomo, and even less so in Cd. Juárez right across the river.  Hopefully more is going on behind the scenes.  Both El Paso and Juárez appear to be followers, not leaders, in this crisis.

Colorado

As of Sunday, there are 131 confirmed cases.  A drive-through testing facility in Denver has tested more than 650 persons in the past week.  Dozens of school districts have closed down.  All in all Colorado appears to be ahead of Texas, and the state clearly has done more testing, so they have more positive cases than New Mexico or Texas.  It is still not clear whether the virus has infected a higher proportion of the population than New Mexico.  Governor Jared Polis yesterday ordered the closure of dine-in services at restaurants and bars throughout the state.  Gyms, casinos, theaters, coffeehouses, cigar bars, brewpubs, and distilleries are closed.  Provisional grade:  Colorado is keeping up with Governor Michelle but may be well ahead of New Mexico in terms of the extent of testing so far.

Cd. Juárez

So far, the feds just don't seem to get it:  according to a story in Diario this morning (click here) the federal government will still insist on the ceremonial delivery of bank cards to elderly persons who qualify for public assistance.  Since March 8, when the severity of the threat of coronavirus was quite clear, the government has delivered about 5000 bank cards to elderly persons, but they have had to go to a building that congregates more than 200 persons in one room.  No disinfectants are available, no masks, no directives to avoid person to person contact--recommendations long since given by the federal health agency.  The federal delegate to the state of Chihuahua, Carlos Loera de la Rosa told Diario "my instructions are to suspend gatherings of over 5000 persons, and here there are only about 500 persons."

 
 Folks gathered in Juárez to receive federal assistance bank cards:  Picture by Diario