{"id":46122,"date":"2021-06-23T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T00:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-regional-medical-center-will-enforce-mask-policy-after-july-1\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:29:25","slug":"san-juan-regional-medical-center-will-enforce-mask-policy-after-july-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-regional-medical-center-will-enforce-mask-policy-after-july-1\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan Regional Medical Center will enforce mask policy after July 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A government study released on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, finds that wearing two masks can better than one, in protecting against coronavirus infection. But health officials are stopping short of recommending that everyone double-up. \u201cThe first challenge is to get as many as people as possible masking. And then for those that do mask, to help them get the best benefit out of that mask,\u201d said Dr. John Brooks of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/span>Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 The state of New Mexico will drop all COVID-19 restrictions July 1. But some places, such as businesses and hospitals, may continue requiring face coverings.<\/p>\n

The requirement is expected to confuse or upset some visitors or customers, including at San Juan Regional Medical Center, which has already reported an increase in the number of people who have expressed displeasure at being asked to wear masks \u2013 even before restrictions are dropped.<\/p>\n

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced last week the state\u2019s color-coded COVID-19 restriction system will be retired July 1.<\/p>\n

Lujan Grisham\u2019s goal was to have 60% of New Mexicans fully vaccinated by June 18, so by the time vaccines would be in full effect, July 1, the state could reopen every aspect of the economy and allow all businesses to operate at 100% capacity like before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

A news release from the governor\u2019s office said businesses can still adopt and require additional precautions for employees and guests at business owners\u2019 discretion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exciting and welcome news in our fight against COVID-19,\u201d said hospital spokeswoman Laura Werbner. \u201cHowever, in order to protect our vulnerable patient populations and each other from this devastating disease, San Juan Regional Medical Center and our San Juan Health Partners clinics will continue to follow COVID-safe practices, including the use of PPE for our caregivers and mandatory masks for everyone who enters our facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County has a vaccination rate of 61.7%, which means 38% of residents in the community are not fully vaccinated and can spread the virus, Werbner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in public, you are around people whose vaccination status you don\u2019t know,\u201d Werbner said. \u201cWhile some areas of San Juan County have high vaccination rates, not all areas do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the vaccine isn\u2019t 100% effective, especially for those who have not yet received the second dose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen cases where patients hospitalized with COVID told us they were planning to get the vaccine, but just hadn\u2019t gotten around to it,\u201d said Dr. Brad Greenberg, emergency medicine physician and director of emergency preparedness at San Juan Regional Medical Center. \u201cDon\u2019t wait for COVID to infect you or a loved one. Make that choice to get vaccinated now before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Werbner said vaccinated people can still be carriers of the virus, meaning those vaccinated can spread it without feeling sick themselves. Because of that, the medical center will still enforce mask-wearing policies beyond July 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy the benefits that will come with New Mexico\u2019s reopening,\u201d Werbner said. \u201cSpend time doing the things you love with the ones you love. Continue being safe, which means continuing to wear a mask anytime you visit San Juan Regional Medical Center and San Juan Health Partners. We look forward to this next chapter and to moving closer to \u2018normal\u2019 together as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

mmitchell@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaccinated people can still be carriers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86759,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46122\/revisions\/86759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46122"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}