PED: 10 New Mexico public schools appear on COVID-19 Watchlist

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – The New Mexico Public Education Department reports that 10 public school buildings appeared on the COVID-19 Watchlist in the week ending on Thursday, December 31 which signifies that they have had at least two rapid responses within a 14-day period. PED states that during that same period, no schools were placed on the Closure List.

The COVID-19 Watchlist is maintained by the New Mexico Environment Department and includes schools and businesses that have two or more rapid responses within 14 days. Schools and businesses with four or more rapid responses in 14 days are placed on the Closure List, are required to close, and according to PED, where appropriate return instruction to remote-only learning.

A rapid response is defined as a series of interventions that are put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and start when the New Mexico Department of Health notifies a school that an employee or a student has a confirmed positive case of the virus and was on campus or in the facility during the infectious period.

PED reports that if a public school is required to close because it has four or more rapid responses in a 14-day period, it must remain in remote-only learning mode until its county is in the green zone. The green, yellow, and red distinctions indicate a county’s control of the virus and are determined by the Department of Health.

According to PED, only the individual school that reached the four-in-14 threshold would be required to return to remote learning. That means a school district could have one school closed for in-person learning, another on the Watchlist, and others that are not impacted.

The schools that are on the COVID-19 Watchlist are the following:

Belen