Lujan Grisham said more progress is needed before the state can reopen the economy further, and she urged residents to be cautious and conscientious in avoiding possible exposure.<\/p>\n
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Mexico increased by 255 on Thursday to 20,388 since the outbreak of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Three new virus-related deaths were reported, increasing that figure to 635 statewide.<\/p>\n
The governor has delayed re-entry to school classrooms until at least Sept. 7 and rolled back plans to reopen the economy by restoring a ban on indoor restaurant service and requiring a 14 day self-quarantine as travelers enter or return to New Mexico.<\/p>\n
Students with special needs and those in kindergarten through third grade who have the most learning needs could be allowed to meet one-on-one with teachers or in small groups before Sept. 7.<\/p>\n
Republican elected officials and restaurants are waging a legal battle against the governor over recent health restrictions aimed at stopping the virus.<\/p>\n
Face masks are required in all public places, and Lujan Grisham previously urged law enforcement to issue citations to individuals who deliberately flout the rule.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Lujan Grisham said she is gravely concerned about the expiration this week of a $600 weekly federal supplement to unemployment benefits, blaming Republicans in the U.S. Senate for delays in negotiating an extension. The state provides a maximum weekly unemployment benefit of $461.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t live on that amount of money and $600 was critical,\u201d Lujan Grisham said.<\/p>\n
State labor authorities are approving unemployment benefits automatically for people who don\u2019t return to work because of their advanced age or for a variety of serious medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Workforce Solutions Department Secretary Bill McCamley on Thursday said people 65 and older and other \u201chigh-risk workers\u201d should consider not returning to work immediately because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Other documented health conditions will automatically qualify workers for unemployment benefits. They include chronic lung disease, severe asthma, severe obesity, diabetes and a serious heart issue. People 65 and over need not submit additional paperwork.<\/p>\n
In an online video workshop, McCamley emphasized shared responsibility among employers and workers when it comes to safety precautions at businesses. New Mexico has created a certification process for businesses that complete coronavirus safety training.<\/p>\n
Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grisham said more progress is needed before the state can reopen the economy further, and she urged residents to be cautious and conscientious in avoiding possible exposure. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Mexico increased by 255 on Thursday to 20,388 since the outbreak of the pandemic. Three new virus-related deaths were reported, increasing that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52444","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=52444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52444"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}