ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — The governor’s executive order declaring a state of emergency in New Mexico due to the COVID-19 pandemic expires Friday. What bearing will this have on some of the last places that are still requiring masks in the state, like courts and health care facilities?
Thursday, the New Mexico Supreme Court announced they are lifting their mask mandate. However, beyond that, experts said folks shouldn’t expect many changes in the health care setting.
“There were mask requirements, vaccination requirements. There were public gathering limitations, school closures, a whole range of things that were done over the course of the three years or so of the pandemic. That came in and went out, and came in and went out, but mostly have been trailing off now,” explained Patrick Allen, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health.
One of the last executive orders related to the pandemic to expire, which renewed the state of public health emergency in New Mexico, lapses on March 31.
“The state of emergency is the umbrella under which a whole bunch of other actions have happened over the long course of the pandemic. Over about the last six months, the things that fall under that umbrella have been stepping down to be less and less intrusive over time as the risk from the pandemic has decreased over time, now that there are treatments and vaccines and those kinds of things,” Allen stated. Allen claimed this won’t change what health care systems in the state actually require.
“There was a point in time where we did in fact have mask requirements for long-term care facilities, healthcare providers, and those kinds of things. Those have already gone away, and so, now, today, it’s up to healthcare providers’ discretion,” Allen explained.
One of the last places that still required masks is the court system in New Mexico. The state Supreme Court announced they’re lifting that mandate Monday.
New Mexico Supreme Court Justice David Thomson said the reason they required masks and distancing was because people are required to be in court. Since it’s a requirement, they wanted to make sure there was a reduced risk of people getting coronavirus.
This will trickle down to all levels of courts throughout the state. It also gets rid of the social distancing requirement, and jurors are no longer required to fill out medical questionnaires before coming to court.
News 13 reached out to Presbyterian Health Care Services and UNM Health; there are no indications they will be changing their masing policies at this time.
