New Mexico Sen. Greg Schmedes (R-Tijeras) is calling on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham not to renew the state's emergency public-health executive order, claiming the state has achieved herd immunity from COVID-19.

New Mexico's state of public health-emergency executive order was most recently renewed on May 28 and is scheduled to expire on Friday, June 25.

Schmedes recently took to Twitter to call for an end to the state's mandates.

"New Mexico has reached herd immunity via both natural infection and vaccination," Schmedes wrote in a June 11 Twitter post. "Emergency powers are no longer needed. I call upon [Grisham] to not renew her executive health orders. Let’s move on. Lockdowns kill."

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines herd immunity or community immunity as a situation when the percentage of a population that is immune to an infectious disease becomes high enough that spreading the disease from person to person becomes unlikely. Individuals can become immune through vaccination or through previous contraction of the disease. 

According to WebMD, researchers say that approximately 50% to 67% of the population would need to become immune to  COVID-19 before herd immunity occurs.

The percentage of New Mexico residents aged 16 and over that have received at least one dose of the vaccine is currently 67.4%, and 58.5% of New Mexico residents aged 16 and over have completed their series of vaccinations, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Health COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard. These numbers don't take into account the number of people that have achieved immunity through natural infection.

Grisham's most recent public-health order enacted on June 2 stated that New Mexicans should still be staying in their homes and only leaving for the most essential services.

As of June 15, 107 people are currently hospitalized in the state due to the virus, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard.

4,302 people in New Mexico have died from COVID-19.