Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is pleading with New Mexicans to get vaccinated against COVID less than a week after the state opened COVID-19 booster eligibility to all adults and extended its mask mandate.
The governor's plea came as New Mexico Department of Health officials noticed a "serious" uptick of coronavirus cases in nursing homes, KOAT reported.
New Mexico Health and Human Services Secretary David R. Scrase
| governor.state.nm.us/
"We're seeing way too high a number of cases, and we’re seeing these kinds spikes that indicate that [COVID-19] is still spreading around the state," Lujan Grisham said.
Almost 300,000 New Mexicans, more than 14% of the state's population, have test positive for COVID-19 since March of last year, and 539 currently are hospitalized, according to the station.
The news story came less than a week after Lujan Grisham opened COVID-19 booster eligibility to New Mexico residents 18 and old and extended the state's mask mandate into December.
"Today I signed an executive order expanding eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots to all New Mexico adults," Lujan Grisham said in a Friday, Nov. 12, Twitter post. "COVID-19 spread throughout New Mexico remains too high – protect yourself by getting your booster."
Lujan Grisham's Twitter post came the same day the state's health department issued a new public health order advising that adults who received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines can get a booster six months after their most recent injections. Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should get their booster two months after their most recent injections.
Prior to the new public health order, only adults 65 and older with underlying health conditions or those in high-risk jobs could get booster shots. Signed by state Health and Human Services Secretary David R. Scrase, the order also extended the state's indoor mask mandate through at least Dec.10 and amended restrictions on mass gatherings and business operations.
"While vaccines are the most effective method to prevent the spread of COVID-19, masks, social distancing and self-isolation measures continue to be necessary to protect New Mexicans who are ineligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or who choose not to receive a vaccine," the public health order said. "All New Mexicans should continue to adhere to social distancing protocols when required to protect our state as a whole."