Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
SOCORRO – Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker has placed barricades outside the front of the local Days Inn after finding out the motel is to be used to house COVID-19-positive patients and others who are in quarantine from the nearby Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, Bhasker voiced strong displeasure about the fact that the city was not notified of the plan until after it was being implemented.
“I hate to be a control freak, but I can’t understand how I can sit still and have people who are (COVID) positive coming into our community without any kind of back and forth as to how that’s going to be treated,” Bhasker said. “I can’t handle that. It made me very upset.”
Bhasker said that, on Monday morning, he noticed a white tent, orange cones and a security guard outside the motel. The security guard told him he could not disclose what was going on.
A few minutes later, Bhasker received an email from a Richard Mancini of PAE, asking if they could meet.
PAE is a company that works with the U.S. government and, according to an article by GlobalNewswire, was hired by the Navajo Nation to help with its COVID-19 response. The contract is valued at $50 million.
El Defensor Chieftain did not hear back from PAE prior to deadline.
Bhasker said that when he met with Mancini, he discovered the Navajo Nation had budgeted money to house people who are COVID-19 positive at Days Inn. There are about 50 rooms at Days Inn, with food and nursing, according to Bhasker, and security is staying at the Red Roof Inn, half a mile away. Both motels are owned by the same person, who lives in Albuquerque.
Bhasker, who is a physician, said in a phone interview late Tuesday that he is especially concerned because he has no idea of the protocols planned for the admission of patients.
There is the possibility of 50 COVID-positive people living in the middle of Socorro and he said he has no idea what happens if someone becomes seriously ill, or if any restrictions are being placed on the residents being moved to the motel.
The motel is near a Walmart and a Burger King, among other businesses.
Bhasker stressed that neither the local hospital, which is already stressed, nor the local police were notified.
The mayor told the council that Mancini was “very apologetic” when they met, but Bhasker said he told him, “I can’t allow you to do this. I have to hear more about your program … for you to come into our city. No matter how good of a purpose this might be, you should go over this with us, and our community members and chief of police; the fire chief, the city councilors should know.
“Showing up in the dead of night and me seeing it the next day is a peculiar situation.”
Earlier Monday, Bhasker said, he spoke to the tribal liaison in Santa Fe, who told him they did not know anything about the situation. He also received a call from the governor’s office wondering what was happening.
“People are construing this as some sort of negative thing with Alamo,” the mayor said, but he insisted that is not the case. “Alamo is a member of our community and I understand that. They are friends, family; they are my patients.”
Bhasker said eight people died over the weekend due to COVID-19 in Alamo and half of them were his patients.
He said he would object to any community – be it New Mexico Tech or others – housing their COVID-positive patients in the middle of Socorro, especially without any advance notice.
As of late Tuesday, he did not know whether anyone was being housed at Days Inn yet. But the barricades remained.
The mayor told the council he had the street department and the police department barricade off the entrance to the motel. Anyone who enters will be cited for going across a barricade, he said.
Bhasker said he was also concerned family members will come from Alamo to check on the quarantined patients, which could lead to more exposure in the city.
