In episode 81 we check back for new developments on some of the impactful stories from YNMG from the past couple of months. Did UNM Hospital cleaning crews who work in harm’s way get the PPE they need? What about the Albuquerque police who waited down the road when a peaceful protest became a violent scene where a man was shot? Finally, are the restaurants we love and miss, and all the employees who keep them running, doing ok? It’s not often in a fast moving news environment that we get to take a look back. Today’s episode is a hat tip to the big stories that almost got away.
Dave Mayberry from Marpac Medical tells us about his company’s efforts to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to UNM Hospital and others that suffered a shortage earlier this year when the threat of coronavirus overwhelmed medical providers. He says Marpac is also making thousands of cloth masks for businesses and individuals.
KUNM reporter Yasmin Khan checks in after reporting more than a month ago that UNMH staff and the cleaning crew were lacking the PPE they need to stay safe while working. Khan says they still don’t have all the equipment they need. LTNM’s Executive Producer Marisa Demarco reached out to UNMH spokesperson Mark Rudi to get more details.
Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, says restaurants are opening at half capacity and just barely hanging on. The restaurants are figuring out how to operate safely, she says, but they cannot afford any more financial hits.
And some local coronavirus news:
Today, four states posted single-day highs, spikes in infections. That includes our neighbor, Texas, which had almost 6,000 new cases, according to the Washington Post. Westerly neighbor Arizona is also seeing a sharp rise in the number of cases.
In New Mexico, five more people have died, officials say, and 207 more people have tested positive for coronavirus. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the upward trend in cases—attributable in part to travel to those neighboring states and then back, public officials say—will pause the reopening process by at least a week. If people don’t socially distance, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham says, schools will not be able to reopen in the Fall. Still, so far, the number of people who are hospitalized for COVID-19 has gone down.
In the Otero County Prison, 76 percent of people imprisoned there are unable to recover from the virus, the Albuquerque Journal reports, in part because of how people sleep, dorm-style, on cots 3-feet apart, says Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel. The prison is on the same property as the ICE detention facility there and the federal prison, where there are also outbreaks.
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