New Mexico keeping mask mandate as other states drop requirement [View all]

New Mexico will use its own information to decide when to remove its coronavirus mask mandate, and that time hasn’t come, the state’s top health official said Wednesday.

Dr. David Scrase, acting secretary of the state Department of Health, said in a news conference he had been drilled Tuesday by residents who felt mask rule changes in New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and Oregon should compel New Mexico to lift its mandate immediately.

New Mexico leaders will make a decision based on needs here, he said. Scrase said the state’s hospital emergency rooms, medical beds and intensive care units are full, and that omicron has hit children harder than previous variants did.

Hospitals administrators are “not sending the emails asking to end the mask mandate,” he said. New Mexico’s mandate generally calls for people to wear masks indoors in public places. Scrase said he wouldn’t predict when New Mexico will ease its mask mandate. He shared statistics showing pediatric cases of coronavirus in New Mexico spiked in January, indicating omicron is invasive in children.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/scrase-says-new-mexico-keeping-mask-mandate-as-other-states-drop-requirement/article_16900e18-89b6-11ec-a0ad-3f71d5217da7.html