Senator focuses attention on Indian health care

WASHINGTON, D. C. — As Senator Tom Udall’s, D-N.M., days as a senator come to a close, he has been busy creating and supporting legislation to help New Mexico and Indian Country handle the many issues created by the novel coronavirus crisis.  He has voted on, signed, and co-authored 54 letters, funding packages, and loans, many of them concerning the COVID-19 response, especially as it pertains to Tribes.

Much of the focus is trained on funding and how it is disbursed.

On April 27, Udall and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., urged the Trump Administration to remove restrictions on states’ ability to spend COVID-19 relief funds. The...

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Department of Health and the State Personnel Office began accepting applications May 22 to fill 200 to 250 contact-tracing positions around the state as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic moves into the next phase.

The positions range from entry-level through supervisory. Work will be done remotely, and hiring will be done virtually. Qualifications include experience in a health-related field or work with communities on social service matters, social work or case management.

Those hired will work with approximately 150 Health Department personnel already engaged in contact tracing, many of whom have been temporarily reassigned from other public health...

McKinley, Cibola and San Juan county’s eateries still restricted

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the state’s emergency public health order will be amended to permit limited outdoor dine-in services for most of the state beginning May 27.

Dine-in services inside restaurants and bars remain temporarily prohibited. New Mexico is on target for a June 1 reopening of those services under a limited capacity per fire code occupancy restrictions – however, New Mexico health officials continue to monitor the rate of transmission in the state’s southwestern public health region, which, if unchecked, could preclude further re-openings in that region. The amended public...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Deb Haaland, D-N.M., and Xochitl Torres-Small, D-N.M., are calling on Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter Gaynor to waive all cost-sharing requirements for assistance under President Trump’s Major Disaster Declaration for the State of New Mexico, 4529-DR, for the state’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“As detailed in Governor Lujan Grisham’s letter, the State of New Mexico has diverted significant resources and funding, including tens of millions of dollars of emergency funding, to mobilize a rapid and...