{"id":52787,"date":"2020-07-11T00:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T06:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-spends-66000-asking-neighboring-states-to-wear-a-mask\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:01:14","slug":"new-mexico-spends-66000-asking-neighboring-states-to-wear-a-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-spends-66000-asking-neighboring-states-to-wear-a-mask\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico spends $66,000 asking neighboring states to wear a mask"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=ce5f0776-93b7-408c-99fd-ffd96401756f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1112\" alt=\"The New Mexico Department of Tourism and New Mexico Safe Promise ran ads in Arizona and Texas asking visitors to follow the state\u2019s health and travel restrictions, which are stricter than those in some neighboring states.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The New Mexico Department of Tourism and New Mexico Safe Promise ran ads in Arizona and Texas asking visitors to follow the state\u2019s health and travel restrictions, which are stricter than those in some neighboring states.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">New Mexico Safe Promise<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>FARMINGTON \u2013 New Mexico, which relies heavily on summer tourism, is asking neighboring states Arizona and Texas to be aware of the state\u2019s COVID-19 restrictions before planning a visit.<\/p>\n<p>The New Mexico State Tourism Department spent about $66,000 on a series of advertisements placed in major cities in Arizona and Texas, states that have seen an increase in coronavirus cases in the past few weeks. The printed advertisements ran in six major newspapers in Tucson, Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas on July 3 and July 5, and included images of New Mexico landmarks.<\/p>\n<p>The ads informed potential visitors they would have to comply with New Mexico\u2019s efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including wearing a mask and quarantining for 14 days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe ask you, as one of our closest neighbors, to join us in making the promise. It\u2019s nothing complicated, just a few simple guidelines like social distancing and wearing a face mask,\u201d the advertisements read.<\/p>\n<p>The ads were part of the New Mexico Safe Promise. Its mission statement says it invites \u201ceveryone to make a personal promise to follow COVID-Safe Practices to make New Mexico the safest place for our families, co-workers and guests.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jBfztEhAwlk\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In 2018, 37.5 million visitors spent $7.1 billion in New Mexico, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexico.org\/industry\/resources\/research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Mexico Tourism Department<\/a>, sustaining 8.5% of jobs statewide.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona and Texas recently have reported surges in coronavirus cases.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Arizona reported 4,221 new cases and 44 new deaths, raising the number of cases to 116,892 and deaths to 2,082, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Ventilators and ICU beds being used by COVID-19 patients also hit a new high this week at 53%, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Hospital data reported to the state showed 88% of inpatient beds and 89% of ICU beds were in use Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The number of cases also has risen in Texas. This week has marked the state\u2019s deadliest week during the pandemic, and the state has seen 27 consecutive days of record-setting increases in the virus-related hospitalizations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcdfw.com\/news\/local\/texas-news\/texas-hits-new-record-for-virus-deaths-as-hospitals-scramble\/2403956\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to NBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both states have refrained from closing businesses or instituting public health restrictions. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on July 1 announced a 14-day quarantine for most people entering New Mexico. And on Thursday, she reimposed a ban on indoor dining and restrictions on high school football and contact sports for fall.<\/p>\n<p>The tightened restrictions come as the state has also seen an increase in coronavirus cases and deaths. In a 16-day period, the average number of new cases each day increased 79%, Human Services Secretary David Scrase said in a news conference Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexico.org\/covid-19-traveler-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Mexico Tourism Department<\/a> website has a notice posted for all travelers: \u201cFace coverings are required for all visitors and residents in New Mexico,\u201d it says. \u201cThe state will increase enforcement of the face-covering requirement, which may include a $100 fine for those in violation of the mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:lweber@durangoherald.com\">lweber@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advertisements target big cities in Arizona and Texas, with increasing COVID cases<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,28,138,29,668,443,421],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter","tag-public-health","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico","tag-tourism-and-leisure"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52787","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=52787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88150,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52787\/revisions\/88150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52787"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}