Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE – Health and education officials say they will pause in-person learning in New Mexico after the winter holidays – an announcement that came as COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations shot to nearly record levels.
The state reported 43 coronavirus deaths Friday – just one fewer than its record for a day – as the death toll reached 1,889 residents. Hospitalizations and the share of tests that come back positive also climbed.
Face-to-face classes, meanwhile, will not be allowed for the weeks of Jan. 4 and Jan. 11, following school breaks, the state Health and Public Education departments said Friday.
The delay, they said, aims to help mitigate a possible “post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases” in the state.
School officials in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque Public Schools have cited student and staff travel as a reason to do remote learning rather than a hybrid of in-person and online schooling, at least for the initial part of the second semester.
That’s because the state requires people traveling into New Mexico to quarantine for two weeks, with a few exceptions.
Schools that were doing a hybrid approach previously and small groups held during remote learning for K-3 and special education students will be able to reopen starting the week of Jan. 18.
“We are hopeful that with these additional mitigation efforts, we will be able to welcome many more students back into their classrooms in the New Year,” Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said in a statement. “Our children have experienced a school year unlike any other and while we are proud of their resiliency and perseverance, we are eager to see them amongst their peers and thriving back in school.”
Charter schools and districts will be required to boost surveillance testing next year, too.
Many lawmakers have pushed state officials to allow in-person schooling to resume, citing concerns about declines in academic proficiency and the challenges remote learning presents for working parents.
Also Friday, New Mexico reported:
⋄ 43 more virus fatalities, the most in a day since Dec. 3, when 44 deaths were reported. The state has averaged about 26 deaths a day over the last week, according to a Journal analysis.
Older adults made up a disproportionate share of Friday’s victims, but the fatalities included a McKinley County man in his 20s and two women in their 30s.
⋄ The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals inched up to 932 on Friday, a 2% increase over the previous day.
⋄ The share of tests that came back positive ticked up to 14% in the most recent two-week period, after hovering around 13% for a few days.
⋄ The state reported 1,849 new cases of the virus, a sign that new infections aren’t dropping as quickly as they were two weeks ago and may be leveling off. The state’s seven-day rolling average of reported cases now stands at 1,662 cases a day, almost 10 times the state’s reopening goal of 168 cases.
