Facility closures, updated stats, preparedness drills

The Gallup City Council held a special meeting March 16 to discuss the fallout to the rise of COVID-19, or coronavirus, specifically how numerous city facilities have been affected.

City Attorney Curtis Hayes reiterated an order from March 12 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to restrict what have been classified as mass gatherings, or where groups of more than 50 people converge. The order also called on state restaurants and bars to operate at no more than 50 percent capacity.

Hayes also mentioned the city facilities that would be closed until further notice, which include: El Morro Theatre and Events Center, Red Rock Park Convention Center, Aquatic Center, Gallup Senior Center, Cecil Garcia Fitness Center, Larry Brian Mitchell Recreation Center, Harold Runnels Athletic Complex, Octavia Fellin Public Library and Children’s Library, Gallup Veteran’s Center, and the Boys and Girls Club.

All upcoming events at these city facilities will be cancelled as well.

“Things are changing rapidly,” Hayes said. “It wouldn’t be surprising with all the information coming in the past four days to see the restrictions become even more restrictive.”

After three presumptive positive cases on March 11, the number of positive tests for New Mexico has risen to 17 as of March 15.

“We’re going to have to keep monitoring what the Department of Health is telling us to do, adjust city practices as needed, and get word out to the public as far as what guidelines are for businesses,” Hayes added.

Hayes also reiterated seniors will be able to pick up lunches in a drive-thru capacity at the Senior Center, and home meal delivery and medical transportation services will still be available.

The new restrictions will also affect the runoff mayoral election slated for March 31. Hayes said there is a statute in the Election Code which will restrict the people who attend the tally of the election results.

Specifically, the statute says the city can restrict the attendance to candidates and one additional person, plus the media and everyone else who is required by law to be present, Hayes said.

Fire Chief Jesus Morales was present to give an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, in the U.S., there are 3,774 confirmed positive cases with 60 deaths, Morales said. These stats were as of the morning of March 16.

At the same time, there are 17 positive cases in New Mexico identified in over 580 tests. This figure includes two cases in Socorro County, 10 in Bernalillo County, two in Sandoval County, and three in Roswell County.

All 17 cases were the result of travelling to areas with infected people, Morales said.

“Right now, by isolating and following the governor’s directive, it puts us ahead of the curve,” Morales said. “By shutting down these mass gatherings, it could help to curb any mass outbreak.”

These tactics are part of a large movement to “flatten the curve,” wherein people are being encouraged to stay home and avoid large gatherings and unnecessary travel whenever possible to minimize the odds of getting infected, or risk infecting others if they have contracted the virus.

Morales said the risk to Americans is still relatively low, but the biggest risk is still to the elderly, especially those with existing health problems.

To that end, the city is staying up to date with all official information, which they then share with the public and other communities.

“We’re continuing to monitor information daily from the Center for Disease Control and the New Mexico Department of Health,” Morales said.

Morales also described a drill that occurred March 12 where local Community Service Aides were given the challenge of identifying a patient who was exhibiting symptoms common with COVID-19 to determine how the county would respond to a presumptive positive case.

“It went really well,” he said. “Our fire department personnel were impressed with the CSAs. They were asking the right questions and they determined the patient was a suspected COVID-19 and the right arrangements were made.”

Morales said the fire department will continue to work with both Gallup Indian Medical Center and Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services to increase the county’s preparedness to the virus.

City Manager Maryann Ustick described what the city is doing to follow the governor’s directive to close down large public gatherings.

Ustick said the city departments will identify what employees can work from home, and be given directions to not have face-to-face meetings.

“I’ve given them the flexibility for them to do what they need to do in their departments to get the work done and get as many employees working from home as possible,” Ustick said.

All employees working from home will be on call as needed, she added. Employees will be paid for their normal hours since their salaries have been budgeted.

Mayor Jackie McKinney said the city’s essential services like trash pickup will continue. The city will keep its commitment to provide services like water and electricity to residents, he added.

McKinney closed the meeting by saying emergency services will be ready, and people have been given directions on what to do at this point.

“We’ll be fine. We will be fine,” he said. “I wish you all well.”

New cases, school closures, precautionary measures

As the growing concerns mount over the spread of COVID-19, or coronavirus, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called a press conference on March 13 to address a number of relevant topics.

“We want to continue to raise the level of awareness [of the virus] because in doing so, we are able to manage this crisis in a prepared, non-panicked environment,” Lujan Grisham said.

NEW CASES

The conference opened with the announcement of four more confirmed COVID-19 cases across New Mexico. The new cases include:

• A Bernalillo County man in his mid-50s with household contact with a previous presumptive positive resident. He is at home in isolation.

• A Bernalillo County man in his 80s with household contact with a previous presumptive positive resident. He is hospitalized.

• A Bernalillo County woman in her mid-70s with household contact with a previous presumptive positive resident. She is at home in isolation.

• A Santa Fe County woman in her late 20s with recent travel to New York. She is at home in isolation.

This brings the current total of confirmed cases for New Mexico up to 10, as of March 13.

While the New Mexico Public Health Department works to combat the current number of confirmed cases, they along with the governor are urging people to do the following:

• Stay home from work or school if you are sick.

• ​Avoid all non-essential travel to affected out-of-state areas and exercise extreme caution with all out-of-state travel.

• ​Remain home, or self-isolate, if you are sick and call the Department of Health at 1-855-600-3453 if you are exhibiting any of the symptoms of COVID-19. Those symptoms include fever, cough or trouble breathing.

• Continue taking precautionary steps to protect your health and the health of others, such as:
  Washing your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
  Clean “high-touch” surfaces daily with regular household cleaners
  Avoid sharing personal household items

The measure of closing schools and telling people to avoid large public gatherings and unnecessary travel has become part of a strategy known as “flattening the curve.”

This means the spike and peak of confirmed cases will be smaller because people will have been told to self-isolate at home and reduce the chances of either contracting the virus or spreading it to others.

SCHOOL CLOSURES

Following an order issued on March 12, Lujan Grisham reaffirmed March 13 that all New Mexico K-12 public schools will close for three weeks, effective March 16.

The governor said closing schools is part of the plan to reduce risk of further spreading.

“New Mexico has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our schools, but closing schools proactively has been shown to be one of the most powerful non-pharmaceutical interventions we can deploy,” Lujan Grisham said.

Schools will not be required to make up the missed instructional days at the end of the academic year, the Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said.

While schools will be closed, Stewart said the Public Education Department has requested and expects to receive waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow school meal programs to continue.

School kitchen staff will be on the job, preparing meals for pickup at school cafeterias and other sites for New Mexico families that depend on school meals.

USDA will reimburse the full cost of breakfasts and lunches for schools where 50 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, which covers nearly all New Mexico schools.

Stewart also said New Mexico school employees will be paid as if there was not a closure.

“As we’re caring for families and students, making sure we’re keeping employees safe and paid is critical,” he said.

Lujan Grisham asks New Mexicans to be careful and clear about how they can do their part to reduce the dangers of COVID-19.

“Be prepared, work with us to do everything we can to minimize impact,” she said.

New councilor, new municipal judge; mayoral runoff could be imminent

Folks crammed into the City Council Chambers after the polls closed March 3 to hear the unofficial results of the City of Gallup Regular Municipal Election.

Four positions were about to be decided: Dist. 2 Councilor, Dist. 4 Councilor, Municipal Judge, and the Mayor of Gallup.

Three of those elections delivered a clear winner, but a run-off will likely be required to determine the new mayor.

The canvass for the Municipal Officer Election is slated for March 10 before the McKinley County Board of Commissioners, according to City Clerk Alfred Abeita.

Abeita also said if a runoff election is necessary following the canvass, it will be held March 31. This date was established by the Council when they adopted the resolution for the March 3 election.

A resolution will be presented to the City Council during their March 10 meeting to affirm the date if it is necessary, along with the offices to be filled and candidates on the ballot.

DISTRICT 2 COUNCILOR

Newcomer Michael Schaaf defeated Allan Landavazo by a margin of 39 votes - 348 to 309.

Schaaf currently serves on the Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education and said watching the results come in was exciting since it was close.

“I hope I can do a good job and represent my constituents well,” Schaaf said. “It was a good race.”

DISTRICT 4 COUNCILOR

Fran Palochak handily held off challenger Levi Saucedo with 440 votes to his 130 votes.

Palochak said Saucedo was the first person to congratulate her because the numbers he had apparently seen showed she had a substantial lead, which was reinforced as the results came in.

“I appreciate the voters being so gracious to vote for me and let me represent them for an additional four years,” she said. “It’s really for them that I serve. It’s not for me. It’s for the City of Gallup and my constituents.”

MUNICIPAL JUDGE

The three-way race for municipal judge was intense between competitors, Janell Griego and Earl Andrew Yearley. Ultimately, Griego pulled away with 1,509 votes to Yearley’s 1,215 votes.

The third candidate, current Mayor Jackie McKinney, brought up the rear with 653 votes.

MAYOR OF GALLUP

The most packed race of the election had five candidates, but it mostly boiled down to two.

Sammy Chioda led the pack with 1,347 votes while Louis Bonaguidi finished second with 987 votes.

As for the rest of the slate, Charles Van Drunen finished third with 721 votes, while Jayson Gomez pulled in 228 and Yolanda Ahasteen-Azua brought in 119 votes.

Despite finishing with the most votes, Chioda did not have the required 40 percent of the total ballots cast, which means a run-off election could occur on March 31, barring any changes to the vote tallies in the canvass.

Bonaguidi said while the early results showed he lagged behind Chioda, he was surprised by how he was able to close the gap as more precincts reported in.

“I feel pretty good about coming from behind,” he said. “Being down 10 percent [and coming back] isn’t too bad.”

Even with the run-off election now in play, Chioda thinks the results reaffirm Gallup residents are ready for change.

“When you have that kind of response with five people running, I consider it a moral victory,” he said. “However, now we have to clinch it and go back to work.”

Bonaguidi said he is also preparing for a runoff.

“It’s a whole new election,” Bonaguidi said. “It’s between [Sammy] and me. It’s a matter of letting people know what I’m like. I think it’ll be pretty even.”

Chioda praised the other candidates and the ideas they had, and stated people resonated with his ideas and the solutions he presented for facing problems in Gallup.

“Every person I spoke with, change was in the air,” Chioda said. “When I spoke with people about my perspectives and my vision for the future mayor, they responded to that in a positive way.”

This has Chioda encouraged going into the run-off election.

“If people want change in this community, they’re going to have to get out and vote,” Chioda said.

Bonaguidi also addressed the idea of Gallup residents being ready for change.

“Whether they’re ready for it or not, it’s going to happen,” Bonaguidi said. “With every new administration in there, there’s going to be changes.”

The current administration has served the City of Gallup for nine years, he added.

“It’s going to be up to us to get our personalities across to the people,” Bonaguidi said. “We’ve lost so much in the past ten, twelve years. In a lot of ways, we’ve gone backwards. My hopes are I’d like to see it back to what it was.”

Specifically, Bonaguidi recalled how Gallup was once a major regional shopping area, and he thinks it could regain that status with the right administration and decisions.

By Cody Begaye
Sun Correspondent

Governor, education, health officials to address the public Friday morning

SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the New Mexico Public Education Department and the New Mexico Department of Health on Thursday announced that New Mexico K-12 public schools will close for three weeks beginning Monday, March 16, in response to the ongoing international novel coronavirus pandemic. The closure will begin at the end of the school day tomorrow March 13.

Lujan Grisham and state officials will be holding a news conference at 10 am in Room 310 of the state Capitol, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, to announce additional details.

As of Thursday evening, New Mexico has had six presumptive positive tests for COVID-19. Per the state Department of Health, the most recent case is a Santa Fe County woman in her 50s with known recent international travel to Italy. She is at home in isolation.

"We are advising the public of this forthcoming announcement tonight so that parents and students can prepare for this upcoming change and begin to make arrangements,” Lujan Grisham said. “We will be informing the public of additional measures that the state will be taking to ease the burden on families and educators and ensure that children continue to be fed."

State Cabinet secretaries’ ongoing work of developing telework policies specific to their agencies will not be affected by this decision; state government services will remain in place at this time.

The governor’s office and state officials will send another notice with additional details following the news conference.

“This is a proactive measure to limit the potential community spread of COVID-19,” Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said. “We have seen other states take this measure after they have experienced community spread of this virus. New Mexico is going to be proactive and do everything we can to prevent the potential spread of the virus. I have been in communication with all of our superintendents about this proactive step, and we are all going to work together to address this public health challenge.”

Friday's press conference will be streamed live at www.facebook.com/GovMLG/.