COVID-19 update: Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Note: The information below includes updates from Wednesday afternoon, June 17, 2020.

Daily statistics

New Mexico 10,065 cases, 452 deaths. June 16: 9,933 cases, 447 deaths.

Doña Ana County 676 cases, 6 deaths. June 16: 659 cases, 6 deaths.

Texas 96,335 cases, 2,062 deaths. June 16: 93,206 cases, 2,029 deaths.

El Paso County 3,999 cases, 113 deaths. June 16:3,948 cases, 109 deaths.

Mexico 154,863 cases, 18,310 deaths, 116,178 recoveries. June 16: 150,264 cases, 17,580 deaths, 113,006 recoveries. (Note: COVID-19 data is more difficult to accurately track in Mexico.)

Estado de Chihuahua No update. June 16: 3,112 cases, 501 deaths.

Cuidad Juarez 1,917 cases, 420 deaths, 395 recoveries. June 16: 1,868 cases, 406 deaths.

United States 2,184,731 cases, 118,878 deaths, 680,277 recoveries. June 16: 2,155,950 cases, 117,848 deaths, 673,980 recoveries. (https://news.google.com/covid19/map)

World 7,941,404 cases (1,021/M), 434,796 deaths. June 16: 7,823,289 cases (1,006/M), 431,541 deaths.

Population estimates: Worldwide 7.8B; US 331M; NM 2.1M, Doña Ana County 218T; TX 29.9M, El Paso County 841T; Mexico 129M, Estado de Chihuahua 3M, Cuidad Juarez 1.5M

Regional statistics

New Mexico (https://cv.nmhealth.org/)                                                

no update on number of tests performed; June 16: 271,553

10,065 cases; June 16: 9,933 (3.66%)

161 hospitalizations; June 16: 156

4,351 recoveries; June 16: 4,217

452 deaths; June 16: 447

Doña Ana County 676 cases (24,191 tests, 2.79% positive), 6 deaths, 321 recoveries. June 16: 659 cases (23,658/2.78%), 6 deaths, 304 recoveries.

Texas (www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus: Case Counts)                  

1,560,537 tests; June 16; 1,522,434

96,335 cases (6.173% positive); June 16: 93,206 (6.122%)

2,793 hospitalizations; June 16: 2,518

62,368 recoveries; June 16: 60,681

2,062 deaths; June 16: 2,029

El Paso County 3,999 cases (41,088 tests/9.73% positive), 113 deaths, 2,914 recoveries, 98 hospitalizations. June 16: 3,948 cases (40,008/9.87%), 109 deaths, 2,795 recoveries, 87 hospitalizations.

Also of note (June 17)

Takeaways from city council special meeting on “8 Can’t Wait”

Mayor Ken Miyagishima said the Las Cruces City Council will hold another work session “to come up with ideas and policy to present to the Las Cruces Police Department for adoption” as a follow up to the Monday, June 15, special work session which the mayor convened to discuss the “8 Can’t Wait” movement that calls for a ban on chokeholds and seven other policy changes that advocates say could reduce police violence by 72 percent.

The mayor said the city also will “see how we can remove police from dealing with mental, behavioral and homelessness issues and deal in a different manner.”

Miyagishima said “8 That Can’t Wait” responses delivered at the work session by LCPD Lt. Shane Briscoe, a department expert on the use of force, will be posted on both the city and LCPD’s websites.

Also as a result of the work session, he said, NAACP Doña Ana Branch President Dr. Bobbie Green and NMSU Chicano Programs Director Dr. Laura Gutierrez-Spencer will do an LCPD ride-along, he said. “As I black woman in America, when I get stopped by a police officer, I am terrified,” Green said at the June 15 work session. “I can usually tell pretty quickly if he’s a good cop or a bad cop.”

“I was satisfied with the (June 15) meeting,” the mayor said. “One of the councilors wanted more accountability and I get that, but it will take a series of meetings to move forward.”

“Our officers are professionals,” LCPD Deputy Chief Michael Dominguez said at the meeting. “We will respond to your calls without fail. We know that there’s a lot of mistrust out there. We want you to know you can count on us. We are all professionals doing a tough job. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We will own up to our mistakes. We love Las Cruces. We are a tight community. We are Las Cruces. We are here to back you up. Please reach out to us and know we are a professional organization. We really do care about our community.”

“I deeply trust and respect Deputy Chief Dominguez,” Councilor Johana Bencomo said at the meeting. “This isn’t about the blame that’s being placed on LCPD,” Bencomo said. “But there is a conversation about police brutality that needs to be addressed. This is about the desire to see transparency and to see my tax dollars be used in a responsible manner. I don’t want us to forget that there were lives lost. Those people had families that loved them,” she said. “I’ll never know what being a police office is like. I will also never know what it’s like to be black in America. But I think it’s very important that we have some of those conversations.”

Special session begins at noon tomorrow

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called a special session of the New Mexico Legislature to begin at noon Thursday, June 18, in Santa Fe “to consider tax relief for individuals, loans for small businesses and local governments, police reform and election improvements, among other topics,” the governor’s office said in a June 17 news release. “Lawmakers will be asked to consider those bills in addition to modifying the state budget that takes effect July 1, (which is) the main purpose of the special session.”

“As a result of the global pandemic, projected state revenues declined steeply following the legislative session earlier this year, leaving a gap estimated at more than $2 billion,” the governor’s office said. “The executive budget framework includes cuts to state agency budgets, grants to local governments and sovereign nations and a preservation of a portion of the pay raises that had been scheduled for educators while using the state’s unprecedented reserves and federal funding to patch the budget hole created by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Among non-budget measures the governor will ask the legislature to take up are proposals requiring police officers to wear body cameras, banning chokehold restraints and making police disciplinary history a matter of public record. The police and public safety reform proposal will be sponsored by state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and state Rep. Micaela Cadena, both D-Doña, the news release said.

The governor will also support a proposal to promote and ensure the security and timeliness of remote voting during a public health emergency, the news release continued. “New Mexico’s election code currently requires voters to request an absentee ballot before one can be issued. The legislature will be asked to consider a proposal to give county clerks the authority to send a ballot to registered voters with a current mailing address and will allow voters and election administrators to track their ballots through the mail delivery system to help ensure timely delivery of their ballots, among other changes.

“Tax relief for small businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic will also be on the call (as) the governor will ask the legislature to waive penalties and interest for small businesses and individuals who unable to make timely tax payments due to the economic impact of the pandemic.

“Additionally, she will ask the legislature to approve a proposal to direct the state investment officer to invest a portion of the state’s multibillion-dollar Severance Tax Permanent Fund to support loans to small businesses and municipalities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”