[Music]
your honor
okay well good morning everybody welcome
to our special City Council meeting
today is Friday April 17 2020 it's
approximately 9:30 2:00 a.m. we're
coming to you via videoconference before
we begin if you'd like to join me in the
Pledge of Allegiance please okay so the
first item is a conflict of interest
statement I'll ask if any member of the
city council city manager or any member
of the city staff has any known conflict
of interest on any item on the agenda
and if I may
can I ask okay good morning 1cv
I'm here oh yeah no I saw you okay all
right so first item is going to be 2.1
resolution to 0-1 462 motion a second
please so moved
and okay and who seconded
okay baskets okay motion made by Mayor
Pro Tem gondola second by council
Vasquez and mister being dollar an
assistant city manager we'll begin the
discussion good morning mayor and
council councillors before you is a
budget adjustment and a resolution to
address impacts of kovat I hope you can
see my powerpoint screen yes I can
if it'll go to the next slide oh as you
arch xi the state of public health
emergency was declared by the governor
and the Secretary of Department of
Health for New Mexico at your April 3rd
special meeting you had a resolution
under 20 - 132 where you allocated when
a little over a million dollars to
address kovat issues in las cruces then
again at a special meeting on April 10th
you passed a further resolution for an
additional six hundred eighty four
thousand - for this cause we the
community are still experiencing the
threats to our health safety and
well-being and property of our residents
because of kovat on this resolution
allocates one hundred thirty nine
thousand five hundred dollars in
emergency assistance from the general
fund as was outlined in your packet if
you want to use something other than the
general fund you're well within your
rights to amend the exhibit and change
the funding source outlined within the
resolution about coming from fund 1,000
the general fund a transfer to the
affordable housing trust fund fund 2013
in the amount of $65,000 for Mesilla
Valley Habitat for Humanity it is being
proposed for completion of construction
of five ongoing homes that are under
construction that they are going to have
to hire private contractors to complete
the construction because of the pandemic
they're unable to use a volunteer corps
at this time we've met with habitat
earlier this week and based on their
estimates this is their biggest priority
for now is getting those five homes
completed that are already under
construction the second item on the list
is $1,000 from fund 1,000 to be expended
within the general fund that's the
seventy four thousand
you have a type of there 74 thousand
five hundred dollars back to the
economic development department that's
the previous allocation for the
microloan technical assistance that you
approved under last week's resolution
and then from last week's resolution it
takes the seventy four thousand five
hundred dollars back from the Telfer
fund and puts it back into fund balance
we feel like it's more appropriate that
the economic development microloan
technical assistance come from the
general fund and not from the telephone
so that's the basic premise under that
sorry about the typo on the second item
listed at seventy four thousand five
hundred it I believe it's correct in
your packet and you have your standard
options
mr. mayor member members of council
thanks David so basically the money that
originally we were thinking of using the
Telstra fund for Mesilla Valley Habitat
for Humanity and the micro loans looks
like can be instead of necessarily using
the telephone we looks like we can do it
in-house one through the general fund
basically yes sir mr. mayor the both
these for habitat and for the Eadie
micro alone technical assistance would
come out of the general fund the
technical assistance would be sent by
IDI directly out of the general fund is
attributed to that Department the
Habitat for Humanity would come from the
general fund and be a transfer to our
affordable housing trust fund and then
allocated under an agreement you have a
tab for Humanity it's a it's a better
accounting of how the money is used and
the sources that it's coming sir not a
problem okay cow service kiss and a
miracle ten questions Thank You mayor
thank you David and good morning to
everybody yeah I think these these funds
are much much better expended out of the
general fund and the TEL short fund at
least for the time being given what what
we told our constituents were again
going to be using the tough
for I just have one request I support
both of these both of these requests but
I do would love to hear an update on
both of these items at a future work
session in the form of a presentation
perhaps by Mesilla Valley Habitat for
Humanity I would love to see I mean that
this is a great program
tremendous nonprofit I've volunteered my
time to help to help them on a house
build myself and I think it's a it's a
terrific opportunity for homeowners to
finally reach their dream of being
homeowners but would love to at a future
work session perhaps meet the homeowners
or just get a presentation of how you
know how the funds are expended what
kind of work Habitat for Humanity's been
doing in our community in the last
couple of years I think our constituents
would benefit from knowing the great
work that they do and then additionally
with the micro loan program for the
Economic Development Department would
love to see in a reasonable time an
update on how that how that particular
program has helped local small business
owners after it's been rolled out or
what the function essentially of this
program will have achieved once it's
completed because of its successful
model I would love to continue something
like this even post Coe bid because
small businesses are having a hard time
getting access to capital and have been
for a long time and so I'm glad that the
impetus for doing this is as is now but
also if this is something that we can
continue to do as a city to really
strengthen our small business community
in the future
not enough pandemic or an emergency
situation would love to explore that
option as well so those are my two
requests and I'm supportive of this
resolution Thank You mayor Thank You
councillor we'll pretend thank you Mary
thank you mr. Dahlin for the
presentation
or the comments of my colleague culture
Vasquez I very much appreciate the
conversation with habitat I think they
do excellent work one thing I'd like to
remind folks is that I sort of on the
fence about pulling money out of the
general fund and not from the Telstra
fund specifically for Habitat for
Humanity we've had discussions about
using our Telstra fund for housing
opportunities and so I just want to make
sure that we have the appropriate
funding available I'm given the kovat
and probably the decrease of the GRT
according to dr. bananas and dr.
Martinez so I I guess my question is to
be an and others you know from that fun
what is our current balance and do we
have anything new to report as it
relates to LA revenue laughs that this
would be an issue
oh sure if she if she's available good
morning mayor I'm slurred this is LAN as
you can look in your packet and if
you'll remember at the last council
meeting we took a resolution to you for
our it's sort of our late mid year
because we were also taking our
adjustments for our approved audit by
the state and if you look on page 7 of
10 after you're required to twelfths we
have an available balance in the general
fund of 15 million dollars so I feel and
actually had this conversation
you know with this assistant city
manager Barbara DeLeon and also with
David Dhawan and I feel reasonably
confident that this 15 million can we
can take care of this with putting the
Habitat for Humanity in here we also
feel budget agrees with the assistant
city managers that this is a really good
area to put it in and not put it in the
chill shard we agree with those as well
mostly aunt I think mayor pro-tem also
wanted a little balance on the on the
telephone you I'm gonna guess that's
about thirty four million after you take
out more or less what we have
distributed or what we have removed
because we took a pretty good loss on
that stock market I think we lost about
four million on that one so mayor if you
look on page 10 of 10 now of course this
is you know using accrual accounting and
curl'd budgeting but there is a fun
ending balance in there about four point
I mean forty two point four million in
there I will tell you I am been talking
with the treasurer Karen by room because
she is the she's the one that actually
invest this money I think the last time
that we talked to her me an assistant
city manager Barbara de Leon she was
anticipating an estimate because she had
not received the you know the actual
investment package back but she was
estimating that we were probably because
of the stock market in the si C which is
estate investment council that
particular fund we were seeing probably
a decrease in that fund of around 12 to
14 percent yeah I figured at least 10 so
okay mayor pro-tem was there more
questions thank you thank you me and I
appreciate that I appreciate that I just
wanted to be sure that from time that
you present it or prepared this that
there wasn't anything drastic that
changed also from dr. Martinez is there
anything that's different from the
presentation you did last week you might
inform of a inform us today and secondly
I gather that from the presentation last
week that this is going to be technical
assistance to businesses already and I
don't know I don't recall what that
process is about recruiting these
businesses and who you might be working
with
as you move through this process with
technical assistance the micro lending
loans good morning mayor mayor pretend
that sister Zelda Martinez becoming
development director thank you for your
questions
the the first question is going to make
a difference in the programming the
approach that we had taken after last
last week on how to serve businesses
that are being impacted by coven we
reached out to the respondents that to
CDF eyes that had responded to our
initial requests and we asked them to
revise the approach to we more focused
on the businesses impacted by covet in
our community so that would be the only
difference however in a direct or
indirect way all businesses are hurting
from from the current situation so it
would be it would still be aligned to
the to the presentation that I made last
week the process would be for us to
engage in a service contract with a
community development financial
institution the CDFI and we will follow
the procurement process that we have for
such services and we would also follow
the performance
a contract approach that we have
implemented for other contracts which
would include the lever bowls on how
many instances are being served how many
hours of technical assistance are being
delivered to the different businesses
and then because one key component is
those those technical assistance hours
transferring to access to capital how
much capital these businesses being
served are having access to thank you
dr. Martinez if I can interrupt I think
David all hand has his hand up once to
make a quick comment or he forgot to put
it down all right so no mayor sorry I
did have a quick comment I lower my hand
now I'm going back to councillor ganda
Mayor Pro tems question about using the
Telstra fund for housing historically
we've used that for emergency or
temporary housing primarily in a rental
situation we haven't used it for hard
construction in the past we used it for
housing with the asylum seekers
essentially last year so we felt like
this was a more appropriate use because
it is hard construction money if we were
looking at a different such a situation
like emergency temporary housing which
we funded out of the a little bit out of
the first million dollars through
community of Hope and other partners we
were to be recommending the Telstra
funds at that time that's all make it
David never let me have any more
questions thank you Mary
I appreciate it I'm satisfied thank you
great well have councillor sword and
then councillor late - Stevie Telstra
sword thank you yes thank you mr. mayor
my computer is slow yeah I'm in
commenting on council vaskas and there
pretends comments I'm familiar with the
habitats with him humanity too some time
ago a long time ago I did do some house
building were for having
and there have been many houses in the
city that I've helped open up
congratulating the new owners it's a
wonderful thing to see that and we've
been talking about using the Tauscher
fine for more affordable housing now for
a long time and it's about time we move
on that as Calabasas and the Mayor Pro
Tem has mentioned and using the Telstra
fun to do that
I remember the conference we had the I
didn't have the city didn't have it was
some other organizations in Las Cruces
or the Dona Ana County that talked about
several areas of problems transportation
and affordable housing were just two of
the many and in the affordable housing
it was concluded that we could afford we
should be putting as assistance close to
a million dollars I wouldn't be opposed
to even increasing that significantly
from the Telstra fund for affordable
housing so yeah I can I think this is a
good thing this particular resolution
here is just fine this small amount
coming out of the the general Finance is
fine with me
Thank You mayor Thank You councillor
sorg I have to tell you just you know in
my opinion when I talked about in my
state of the city about using the
Telstra fund for funding of affordable
housing I wasn't meaning to take
portions of it to build buildings more
so I was thinking a lot of these housing
authorities or nonprofits who build they
are they can access like 90 percent of
the monies they have a hard time coming
up with ten percent so well I was hoping
that we would then lend them let's say
for example let's say they have a ten
million dollar project they can come up
with nine they need a million you lend
them the million and they pay us back we
just charge them say two or three
percent interest and they pay us back
over a period of 10-15 years
so that we're slowly divesting our our
interest so it's not all in the state
investment council like it is today like
you just heard that we're gonna lose ten
or twelve percent on our investment and
so if we slowly diversify and and use
that fund for other revenue producing
loans because that way there it'll still
maintain its its corpus amount while
still earning it yes yeah I understand
mr. mayor it's just that we tried that
once already with a project and it was
not accepted we need to have projects
that are going to be done when we invest
that money into it rather than depend on
some affordable housing organization and
that gets tax credits and all we need to
think go ahead and and what partners of
course like habitat um do it actually I
think that project was accepted it was
initially turned down and then reversed
by the State Finance Board the one from
really yeah it was it was out there at
Metro Park Village I don't know if it's
at Metro Park it's a pretty good sized
one that one all Vetta and the public
housing and and it included the
including the attorney general's office
the state treasurer's office the state
auditor's office this is one where were
they came back and revote it and it
passed so it's a pretty substantial
project I can't remember exactly gave a
dollar I might know where it's at but
yeah there was two projects at that time
one was down around Idaho or Missouri
Street and then the other was out there
in the East Mesa off of Peachtree no I
know it is it's Pecos and um and Foster
yeah they're gonna renovate that place
it's a pretty bright size the project so
as I understood it the other one got
turned down and actually we were gonna
loan 1.2 million dollars to help it but
anyway the funny it's worked out yes
David you're both correct the one desert
hope apartment
was approved for the tax credits we have
two agreements on mondays resolute on
Mondays two resolutions four agreements
at Monday's meeting the one out in Metro
Brady was turned out so like let's try
to do daddy get it done next on some
other way
Thank You mr. mayor well thank you now
sir I baked this Duty thinking there I
want to thank me after time gondry for
her questions regarding the micro loans
I have a question for dr. Martinez how
soon can we start referring basically
businesses over to you to start looking
into these micro loan program yes mayor
Councillor m8s to be if you have
businesses that are contacting you what
I would ask you to do is to refer them
to us as soon as you hear from them we
have other supporting initiatives and
also we could contact put them in touch
with other service providers and so if
you if you have been contacted by small
business review judgment that connection
we'll be happy to follow up specific to
the technical assistance for access to
capital we are in their approval process
for that and we were planning to have
the final decision on the funding source
to finalize the amendment from what we
have worked before so as soon as we have
the service contract for this work we
would have a big announcement to make
sure that businesses are aware of this
opportunity and then we would start
immediately with efforts to outreach to
businesses through the partnership and
tactic thank you and what would be the
most helpful resources that the
businesses would need to bring to you to
start this program what would they need
to bring do you know what the thank you
for that question that's that's very
helpful in one of the comments that we
heard
one of our partners small business
development centers when they were
helping businesses to access the SBA
loan for instance is that they were one
of the biggest challenges was for
businesses to come with all the
paperwork needed to be ready for for
application and so the details we could
share those with you as soon as we have
them worked out without with our partner
CDFI through this service contract and
and maybe that's a good point for us to
bring awareness to small businesses that
through our email blasts what
requirements there may be or the the
more frequently asked questions that
leaders have and for us to to share that
information so I appreciate you you
asked them that question thank you dr.
Martinez I think that's a great idea to
have and just helping I think both
parties with that process I'm very
excited to hear that I'll also be
looking to see later on when we do some
tracking data about how many businesses
were able to help what those industries
ended up looking like and then maybe
even demographics on the owners
themselves on who ended up being the
most help with these types of things so
I'm very curious to see what that
process will look like and those types
of tracking items but thank you very
much dr. Martinez and thank you man okay
well thanks for the Oh council Bencomo
did you yeah dr. Martinez I just have
one quick question for you I'm curious
about so this money is going directly to
the economic development department
right I'm curious about the 7405 cap and
if this like how did I know that we've
discussed that this was the cap a few
weeks ago and then we extended it to
higher is this are these sufficient
funds for you do you think you'll come
back to ask for more depending on how it
goes I'm just curious about how we
landed on this particular number
yes mayor Councillor been cover on this
Griselda Martinez again yes this number
was previous to the change in the cap
for for funding what I like to do though
is to launch this program and use it as
a pilot program and and as you as you
have stated I am very interested in in
learning the impact that this is having
to help small businesses and for us to
stay flexible to make other potential
moves that would support other gaps that
we are identifying as we we hear from
businesses and as we work with partners
in the community
if this program proves to be effective
and of great impact we would definitely
be coming back to request additional
funds but we at this point we'd like to
stay to launch this and stay very
focused on monitoring the results and
then be able to adapt to other
opportunities if needed and as they come
that's wonderful wonderful dr. Martinez
thank you I something you said last week
when you presented on this that really
stuck with me was about the inequities
and lending that exists right now for
minority business owners and people of
color business owners and so for me I
think it'd be really important to see
that kind of data as well not just the
kind of business that you were able to
support but if they were businesses
business owners who are historically
marginalized and and left out a lot some
of these processes so for me I think
that would be really important and I
thought it was something I just thought
it was something really important that
you said last week
thank Thank You councillor mekomo
we will be including that item as part
of our reporting because it is so
important for us and also considering
the demographics of our community that a
large portion of our population is just
minority
that's right thank you so much
put it mayor okay Thank You counselor
and I think that's it so if there's
nothing further that's been moved in
seconds and Christine is on the motion
to approve resolution 20-1 for strict
cancer a betta sweetie yeah dr. bencomb
oh yes cancer floated yes come sir down
the DA yes mayor yes specific 19 we have
with us from the Department of Health
mr. Dave Morgan and I believe also miss
dawn dawn Sanchez I believe see her so
Dave you're gonna kick it off Dave
Morgan yeah Dave's on the phone so he's
not we can't see his happy face today
think he's on the phone Dave okay well
let's just switch to dawn real quick
Donny either r6i apologies everybody
Thank You mr. mayor thank you everyone
so also with us in addition to myself
and Southwest director Don Sanchez is
our state epidemiologist dr. Michael
Landon a few of you will be familiar
with dr. Landon he was the the doctor
who came to speak publicly within at
city council chambers to publicly
address COBIT 19 before literally days
before it really blew up and dr. Landon
you with us right now yes
thanks for joining us dr. Linden oh
thank you for the invitation okay so
they've Morgan you have some information
you'd like to share with us David would
you like me to start or yeah I apologize
I keep hitting star three for some
reason anyway you know we're basically
here to be able to provide answers to
you so I'll turn it over to dr. Landon
but then whatever questions you know
mayor and council have we will be happy
to tackle them for you
but they've one of the big things and
was whether or not we could get
information based on zip code and I
don't know if you've been able to be
able to disseminate that information
throughout the county I know some other
areas do that specifically El Paso Texas
was that something there that the state
has that capability
right yeah this is Mike Landon the as I
understand it you all done Union County
may have received some data zip code
data last night I had also provided we
had also provided some small area data
so small areas or similar sizes to zip
codes but are a little more stable and
we have 125 of them in the state and a
number in Dona Ana County and so yes we
can provide you all those debt those
data in either format and I I understood
that some data had gotten to you by zip
code yesterday but if not I can I can
double check that and then we also have
small area data which is a little more
of a better area in terms of better
population data so you can do rates and
comparisons and stuff like that I think
the data that I remember seeing was beta
and it was good it was based on on ages
and a few other things but I wasn't too
sure if I saw zip codes I may have I
don't know I've been reading a lot of
information and then the second one was
any information regarding Presbyterian
who apparently has a model they could
predict either when the surge was coming
or what they could predict what the
county was going to look like worst-case
scenario well in with respect to that
Presbyterian does have a model also a
lot of flannel and seed Sandia has had
some additional supports to that model
they work with Department of Health and
I'm modeling and the model for the
presbytery model has a peak currently of
may 18th for the state now the
assumption is that it will occur earlier
in the areas that have been more
effective in the northwest and later and
who knows you know the amount later
maybe a week that sort of thing later in
the South in general the the modeling
information we
look at uses case information and I can
just point out that
Danya and counties rate is about 26 per
hundred thousand which is lower than New
Mexico's rate which is about 67 400,000
which is lower than El Paso's rate which
is lower than us the u.s. rate that's
that's those are all good things and in
terms of the doubling time of the cases
which is one way we look at growth of
the outbreak doubling time for the state
human Sibley has been about four point
six days four point six days in the last
in the last seven days the growth rate
and doubling time in Dona Ana County
have decreased which is good so we're
not seeing as much growth in fact the
doubling time and Gandhian County is
substantially less than the doubling
time for the state as a whole so that is
that's all very encouraging we have a
lot of cases in the northwest and
central part of the state in terms of
the risk is greater for kovat in those
parts of the state and lower in your
area and prickly Dona Ana County
the one thing that los alamos has been
[Music]
emphasizing in their models is the risk
the potential risk of importations and
from other states and El Paso does have
a higher rate than Las Cruces and that
is something to keep an eye on is the
risk for invitations because that can
sort of affect the modeling but in terms
of the state model the Presbyterian
model specifically it's on May 18th its
predicted that the state will need
an additional 1,200 ICU beds
based on Presbyterians model sort of at
moderate intervention if the
intervention is cranked up if the social
distancing is cranked up further that
would drop to below a thousand needed
ICU beds and based on the surge planning
we're looking at hopefully having around
600 ICU vents after we when we expand
access throughout the throughout the
state one thing that's going to affect
the model is it does affect the model
and the model is just a prediction or
the models are just predictions his
social distancing and the good news for
Las Cruces in Dona Ana County is that
the social distancing change
specifically measured in amount of miles
traveled based on some data we have from
the card lab is the amount of miles
traveled in dunya encounter is dropped
about 43 percent which is lower than the
state which is more of a drop in the
state in the lowest drop of any County
in the southern part of the state so you
all are doing very well with the social
distancing work and what the social
distancing work will do hopefully this
will flatten the peak reduce the
pressure on the healthcare system and
also may move the peak out further some
national models have suggested
particularly University of Washington
model have suggested the peak in New
Mexico will be around the end of May I
mean I'm sorry
end of April early May so there are
there are lots of different models out
there one thing that the Sandia model
can do and if you guys if you all are
interested we can we can connect you
with the same DM ours is they can they
can look at based on some of the
epidemiology inputs
inputs from the presbytery model or the
land alato they can then look at for a
particular County they can come up with
some scenarios and some estimates of
medical equipment needed staffing needed
and beds needed so if you all are
interested I can I can connect whoever
you would like with the modelers at
Scindia and they can provide those
specific estimates okay well thank you I
I was looking at the information that
was sent to I believe counselor Bencomo
asked for some information counselor
Bastas and what was sent the night
before it hasn't broken down to age it
has broken down into race and then
status and just real quick you counsel
my colleagues haven't received this of
the 51 cases as of April 13th one was
african-american 38 was white five was
other race seven was incomplete well for
whatever and then the second thing is
McLaughlin then is the you said maximum
600 ICU beds
what is the would you happen to know how
many are in the state oh yeah I mean the
number they're available for Kovan at
estimates right now are about 126 and in
terms of the total number of ICU beds
the estimates vary but you know
approximately approximately 350 350
total but because of the curtailing of
elective surgery and procedures the
amount of ICU beds has actually
increased recently in New Mexico the
availability has increased which is
which is very positive and people have
really some of those interventions have
really helped increase the availability
of ICU beds okay well we have a slew of
questions here counselor's basis to be
sword vastus and then
let me get the daily real quick David my
Estes jumped in and then I'll get the
council for this so David you had a
quick question
yes mayor thank you very much this is
for David Morgan mr. Morgan I I know you
mentioned that you thought that he was
out there have been information about
the zip codes we have not received that
if you could let me know who that was
sent to I would very much appreciate
this I can get in contact with them the
information that mayor just read out to
us was something that we had received
several days ago and it did talk about
some demographics based on the positive
tests but unfortunately we have not
received anything with respect to the
zip codes yes sir I will determine where
that information is I'll work with Mike
to make sure that it gets in your hands
thank you I appreciate that mr. Morgan
and then may I'll go ahead and turn it
over to councillors and say we're on the
list but I will have a follow up
question afterwards
thank you will do so we have counselors
about the Stu V sword Velasquez and
Flores and Thank You mr. Morgan and
Sanchez and dr. Landon I do have a list
of a few questions some of which if they
cannot be answered now I got to see them
human-sized in the future and you did
answer a few of my items such as when we
were to expect their peak here in Las
Cruces but I was also wondering if we
currently have on testing processing
capabilities here in Las Cruces now or
if we're still having to send this
testing up to Santa Fe David are done do
you I mean do you have information on
that if not I have cancer
dr. Landon yeah this is done right now
we are still sending our test kits up to
SLD okay and do we have plans on getting
that testing capability here in Las
Cruces there there is some some of the
Abbott tests
have been deployed at hospitals
throughout the state and I do believe
and this is the these are the these are
rapid tests they're the same PCR by the
same type of tests a PCR test but it's a
rapid test and and I am I believe those
are currently we have them at Memorial
in Mountain View thank you that's good
to know and in regards to testing I know
that we have positive and negatives that
we've been able to you see are we
tracking sort of the inconclusive tests
and if so have we seen any differences
in Dona Ana if we have a higher rate or
is our rate of inconclusive about the
same at other places in the state we
treated an indeterminate or inconclusive
test almost essentially like positives
and we keep you know close track on
those and if I'm not mistaken we've
we've had we have had very few
indeterminate tests and I'm not aware of
any indeterminate tests in Dona Ana
County thank you and are we currently
testing our nursing homes right now even
the non-systematic yes Don I'm not I'm
not sure we have we've done some testing
based on symptomatic cases and that sort
of thinks throughout the state actually
a lot of a lot of testing and the
planning right now is particularly in
the southern part of the state the case
rates unfortunately are not as high as I
mentioned Don Jana County's case rate is
twenty six hundred thousand compared to
the state case rate at about sixty six
in McKinley counties for example is over
three hundred just to give you a
perspective so McKinley County's case
rate is ten times that of Dona Ana
County however we also have noted and it
makes sense where you test you'll find
you'll find additional cases so we are
and I'm rolling out a process to do
testing in particularly and also in
nursing homes throughout the state
including Dona Ana County where we'll be
testing where there are no symptoms will
be doing a representative sample of
testing at person comes throughout the
state including done yet again and I
think I'd love to be able to see that
type of time schedule where we in Dona
Ana County are in on that time line as
compared to the rest of this state I'll
be great I would just suggest if I if I
could done why don't you touch base with
Breanna Henley who I believe is is in
your part of the state and she will she
would have that schedule right mr. mayor
councillors today we are we are ramping
up the testing some long-term care
facilities working with our division of
health improvement who does the
licensing for the facilities another
thing I want to just mention is that the
CDC is actually doing a study in Las
Cruces in the county looking at why some
of our rates are lower as far as
transmission what behaviors are
happening and they are this week
actually going to be surveying and doing
some testing in three of our long-term
care facilities here in Las Cruces in
one of our hospitals and then we're
following up with a large population
general population random study come
next week and our Public Health Office
as well so we have begun working with
those long-term care facilities and
we'll definitely right and done if I
could just add to that CC volunteered
some resources to the state we
particularly felt it was important to
have those resources focused on portion
of the state without high rates with it
it is not getting as much attention as
the other parts of the state so we we've
actually planned this assessment with
CDC which Don described which will give
us an idea of the prevalence of kovat
just community based which is our really
our first time to get that sense
anywhere in the state and also give
sense prevalence of kovat and also
infection control practices
among in the healthcare setting so I
think it I think it'll be very helpful
thank you that's good to hear um and I
know as we are learning about this
endemic and learning about the virus
itself that they're finding that there
are certain underlying health conditions
such as pulmonary hypertension perhaps
diabetes that are leading to worse
outcomes are we doing tracking in our
state as well about this
are we noticing any trends in our own
community with people with underlying
conditions and perhaps other Democrats
that they may have yes I mean we were
aware that these underlying conditions
such as diabetes hypertension other
heart disease chronic lung disease
kidney disease other other diseases that
suppress the immune system can all lead
to higher rates of complications for
covin so we know that person 55 years
and older are in higher risk of those
complications hospitalization and other
other bad outcomes so to speak and then
we also know the chronic disease or
these underlying conditions can lead to
that as well we do we are tracking that
we you know unfortunately with most of
our most of the deaths that we've seen
in the state and we're now up to about
44 we were up to 44 deaths the most of
these have occurred among older persons
with underlying conditions we also track
that information on all of our cases so
we do have that information and we can
we can work with you all to get that
information for your community thank you
I really appreciate that and I know um
you know as we age of course there's a
lot of different things that can happen
and we build up on those underlying
conditions
I'll be curious as well to see those
outcomes for the younger demographic if
those conditions are different or
lifestyles what might be leading up to
that even you know smoker or nonsmoker
things like that just any of those items
so thank you I'd really like to see some
of that right and then I would just
mention one other key it's not only
underlying conditions more of a social
determinant is when we look at poverty
since this level census tract level
poverty rates we do see a gradation we
which we see for many of our health
status indicators that Cova does appear
to be associated with poverty in New
Mexico I'm sure most people at this
meeting are not surprised by that but
you know unfortunately we're seeing that
same pattern with respect to a
relationship to poverty with kovat
infections in the state so we've we've
just we've we've just been looking at
that recently as well and that's the
advantage of we use our small area data
for that which is a little more there
there's we're able to look at census
data with respect to that and a little
more accessible format than we can with
zip code so that's the advantage of the
small area data thank you that you know
unfortunately that's a very big problem
for our area but I'm I'm glad that we
are talking not to see what we can do I
was also very glad to hear that we are
looking at El Paso very closely on their
data and numbers and cases you know that
our communities are very much linked and
their cases right that's where we can
see perhaps other opportunities for
people when we're working with each
other and having that relationship where
we might get some people crossing over
that my barriers so I'm very glad to see
that we're looking at that with that in
mind I know that in a lot of our cases
when we have non kovat related a
cases for that weekend to El Paso bruh
hospitals that higher-level trauma
should we not be able to send our cases
there for that will they be sent to
Albuquerque and if Albuquerque also has
a surge at the same time where and what
is the plan for patients here in Las
Cruces 3 feed that higher-level trauma
care so you're specifically photo
speaking of non-coated associated travel
care right yes I know that we send
I think it's stroke patients other types
of situations they usually get sent out
to either El Paso hospitals or perhaps
they could get sent out back Turkey
if those hospitals and at peak capacity
to receive what is the plan for our
community to make sure that our
residents are still getting that service
that's that's a great question and my
assumption and it's only an assumption
was that the current referral patterns
would continue for trauma care but I
will will double check on that and will
let you guys know there have been some
discussions of changing you know
transfer patterns a little bit with
respect to Cove in cases but I have not
heard any plans to change transfer
patterns for trauma care but III that's
an assumption I really need to
double-check that thank you I appreciate
that
and just knowing that we also receive a
lot of outlying area patients if we are
going to continue to receive those
patients and have any numbers on what to
expect even though our cases might be
low do do we have plans on what to
expect from our rural communities well
you know with respect to that
unfortunately the I mean or
unfortunately depending how you look at
it danyetta County has one of the higher
rate
in your immediate area so even though
it's relatively low compared to other
rates in the state in the u.s. compared
to Alto so it is higher granite County
has a rate that's a little bit higher
than John Jana County so in general the
rates of counties around you are lower
than damiana County rates and the the
plan in terms of referrals for Kovach
cases though does in the southern part
of the state does does Center on
referrals potential referrals to the two
hospitals in Las Cruces Memorial and
Mountain View so it's the hub and spoke
model and one of the the southern hub is
Las Cruces with respect to kovat
referrals thank you thank you doctor
thank you Don and Dave and Thank You
mayor those around me for now Thank You
counselor and just appreciate your
comments regarding the nursing homes or
never seen facilities I actually reached
out to them this week to see if what
they needed and what they're saying is
things are good but they could use
always use more masks the nine and
ninety five mask and then alcohol-based
hand rub we're not sure what that is but
I don't suppose that's the hand
sanitizer that people used in lieu of
hand washing okay and the state doesn't
have access to that duty well in terms
of the masks we the Emergency Operations
Center has received some additional PPE
recently and mass recently and they're
working to get that out in terms of the
hand sanitizer donner David you know if
we've been distributing any alcohol
based hand same pleasure the David I not
okay and also counselor basics to be one
of the larger facilities have been doing
random testing on their employees and so
far thank goodness nothing all negative
so that's good we're just trying to be
appropriate proactive on that and I
appreciate your question okay next is
counselor sword yeah that's sort of
Thank You mayor um and thank you dr.
Ladin and and David Morgan and Don it's
good to hear you again I just have one
main question and that is that when you
test for the corona virus and you have a
positive test do you determine whether
that positive test could be either a
community obtained infection or a an
importation because early on in our
testing I heard rumors that there was
people from El Paso coming up here to
Las Cruces to be tested and in fact even
one person from Phoenix Arizona as far
as I know they they have returned to
their cities but I just wondered if your
keep track of those two things when you
get a positive test yes we we do with
after we get a positive test New Mexico
is one of the few states well the few
states that's still investigating all
cases so we're investigating all the
cases we're interviewing the cases
looking at asking about contacts and
then we do contact tracing around all
these cases as well and so we do track
importation
you know cases that have been basically
imported from elsewhere and that sort of
thing and that's that's a concern that
the los alamos in there
risk profiling has raised is that
something we you know that's it's sort
of a note they put on with respect to
the southern part of the state of and
Dona Ana County specifically you know we
need to keep track of the possibility
portation so that's that's
very that's a very key thing to be doing
okay we do like that yeah I just wanted
to remind the rest of Council and let
you all know they're at the Department
of Health that we did get a graph that
showed the case summary that showed the
increase in numbers of positive two
tests both in New Mexico and Dona Ana
County and it's quite it actually says
shows in a graph form what rates you
told us about here this morning and I
just want to make last one last comment
how disappointed is that the hospitals
have to lay off personnel there it's too
bad that you know in a situation that
we're in we can't keep the people
employed in the hospitals but that's
just my comment Thank You mayor Thank
You councillor hotel services Thank You
mayor do job have just a few questions
here earlier you mentioned that we had
one of the lowest rates at 26 per
hundred thousand I think the latest
numbers I saw at us at over 50 per
probably roughly just over a hundred
thousand in total population so how does
it how does that number determine when I
think we have double that right so yeah
sometimes the the rates in the way
epidemiologists guess rates can be a
little confusing and I apologize for
that
so justjust to be so Johnny Ana County
yesterday had 14 faces a total confirmed
cases 58 so if you take 58 and divide it
by danyoung county's population you get
a rate 400,000 of twenty six point seven
gotcha
the danyetta County's rate per hundred
thousand and this allows us to compare
you know apples and oranges so we can
compare Dona Ana County with a rate of
twenty six point seven four hundred
thousand to El Paso which has a rate
based on 689 cases in a population over
800,000 kt2 per hundred thousand because
I just gives just a way to normalize
that and we can
often compare it down Yannick County's
rate then to New Mexico's rate which is
about 57 per hundred thousand okay we
use that to look at per capita cases
essentially and we're able to then
Dabish you know different levels of risk
so based on looking at this we would say
the risk of kovat right now in Danyang
county is substantially lower than it is
for the entire state of New Mexico it's
substantially lower than it is for El
Paso and that's that's a good thing and
suggest that the social distancing work
that you all are doing as reflected in
the miles traveled data working with
your community is paying off okay thank
you that sounds great
regarding the the peak that you
mentioned in I forget which which model
it was the Sandia or Presbyterian you
said the south is expected to peak
sometime after May 18th could you just
repeat that again what what the source
was and what the expected peak time was
and if right right to the the model that
were our core model is the Presbyterian
model okay and based on that model the
peak is expected to be May 18 okay and
certain part just like certain parts of
the country are peaking earlier than
other parts for example New Mexico
hasn't peaked yet but you know it looks
like Louisiana has peaked it looks like
likely peaked it looks like New York New
York is peaked
Washington is likely peaked so some
areas get started on this outbreak or
pandemic earlier than others and
therefore they peak earlier and we're
expecting particularly the northwest
part of the state to peak earlier than
the central part of the state and then
the southern part of the state to peak
peak later than the Central and
northwest part of the state and this is
just an expectation based on the way
the virus sort of moves through a
population and so it's an estimate
it'sit's a prediction but we would
expect Dona Ana County at a later a peak
that's later than the rest of state now
that being said like I mentioned other
models such as the University of
Washington model which looks at every
state they are they're estimated in New
Mexico will peak in late April or early
May and with that thinking along those
lines then the southern part of the
state would peak a little later than
that but perhaps a little before May 18
so it really sort of I hope I'm not
confusing you but it sort of depends on
what model you're working with but based
on our core model may 18th peak for the
state and we would expect the southern
part of the state which has seen less
activity from kovat to peak a little
later so this is a really interesting
double-edged sword kind of thing right
because at one you know on one hand we
have one of the lowest rates probably in
the country lowest rate certainly with
in with the New Mexico so and and that
means that our social distancing
approach has been working that means
folks have been paying attention to
guidelines and directives and I'm very
proud of that on the other hand it means
if we don't peak until later you know
post May 18 that we have to keep
essentially our economy closed for a lot
longer right and so while other places
who have peaked that where Peaks have
been seen may reconsider opening sooner
would you have a recommendation one way
or the other in terms of as we continue
to have a local emergency declaration
but also calls a state guidelines you
know I think it's important for
constituents to know this information
right in terms of when we're expected to
peak and why we're why we keep
restrictions in place when we see such
low numbers so do you have any comments
on that I mean in terms of best
practices during a time
when we're doing really well but we're
not going to peak until later so we
should probably keep those restrictions
in place on the cinnamon right I mean I
would just say that I would echo what I
think the governor is stating which is
you know it's too early talk about
changing our our interventions at this
point we haven't even peaked so in the
state and then in particular we haven't
even picked him south
I do think you know I'm going to be I
think the information we get from the
you know the CDC team that's doing the
sort of the Community Survey for kovat I
think that's going to be very helpful
it's going to give us a sense that you
know we do know that asymptomatic
transit transmission is does occur or
pre-symptomatic transition transmission
in the two days prior to the symptoms
being developed and we do know that that
occurs and we the amount of testing in
the southern part of the state overall
hasn't been as great as some places in
northern part of the state so that
information will be all those tested is
increasing southern part of the state
that information from the CDC assessment
will be will be very helpful now help I
think it'll help your dunya County and
Las Cruces to plan great thank you so
much looking forward to that data glad
this BDC is here so you also mentioned
the 1,200 ICU bed shortage that New
Mexico is expected to have under the
Presbyterian model is that also broken
out geographically is there something we
could or should be doing in Dona Ana
County to address to prepare for that
others our share of that bed shortage
essentially um yeah I mean that's that's
a good point you all are one of the
after after Bernalillo County you're the
biggest source or biggest have the most
ICU beds so we I will I will look into
those breakdowns and see if we have
anything to our medical and
team and get back to you all on that I'm
not aware of any break the regional
breakdowns for us events in terms of
expected shortage that sort of thing but
let me look into that and get back
through Don and David that information
and a similar follow-up question on that
is during the peak time where we're
experiencing an ICU bed shortage and
we're seeing staffing levels currently
at healthcare facilities and hospitals
being reduced significant loss of income
from elective procedures and other
normal business as usual are we going to
have to ask all those folks to come back
during an ICU bed shortage or the peak
situation do you think that our health
care system is adequately prepared as
we're essentially laying staff off but
are anticipating a third that might
require them to come back and from what
I've heard about the various health care
systems is that these layoffs are
hopefully and likely short-term layoffs
and as needed they will bring additional
staff on as the anticipated surge picks
up so that's that's the understanding I
have and I don't have an understanding
about every single healthcare system
this is just and this is mainly hearing
from healthcare systems in the in the
northern and central part of the state
so I haven't spoken specifically with
I'm not aware of Sicilia Memorial or
Mountain View's plans okay thank you and
I have two more questions one is
regarding health out you know health
regular health check-ups or not so much
the elective procedures but you know
things that people do routinely to take
care of their health and appointments
that they may have with medical
professionals whether they be at clinics
or hospitals that are currently going
untreated or unchecked or you know
appointments are being cancelled I also
worry that when we are affecting our
that have the long-term health of our
population because we don't perhaps have
some of those per
have health check-ups that are that
regularly would take place and so I also
fear that if you know we're not folks
aren't going in to see their regular
doctors or physicians for two months
that more complication could develop or
that you know things could come out as a
result of people not getting the health
care services they need is that
something that that you kind of thought
about or that on the radar in terms of
people's health regular health services
being suspended during this time and how
that impacts population long term yeah I
mean it's really it's really a edge 22
we talked about in underlying conditions
diabetes heart disease chronic lung
disease kidney disease all those things
that increase the likelihood of
complications of covin we talked about
those things yet and those are worse
when persons chronic conditions are and
also you know some disorders are a big
car seshu when those conditions are in
are unless control the risk of
complications increases further so
there's a catch-22
we're making the healthcare system more
ready and prepared for kovat and the
challenges we are at the same time were
you know we have affected routine
chronic care so what's really key and
hopefully this is occurring increasingly
in las cruces are basically a video
video visits internet-based healthcare
visits and that sort of thing which
which persons where people who have our
conditions can get the care they need
without risking you know getting covered
and really increasing their likelihood
of complications from the disease yes
thank you certainly hope that the
telehealth system is is really beefing
up during this time and that folks are
using all the the services that they
that they need virtually as much as
possible my last questions slash request
is more maybe for staff but also for the
council to consider is I think with this
core model that the state is using the
Department of Health is using however we
can communicate that as localized as we
can to the public you know to justify
the decisions at the say that the City
Council is making and continues to make
I know in particular you know business
folks are getting very anxious for the
economy to reopen and I think knowing
for the public to know that we're making
these decisions with the best available
data that we have out there is an
important thing for us to put out and so
I don't know if that's in a form of a
press release or the data that's made
available on Coppa 19 Las Cruces but I
think having you know beyond this
meeting letting the public have a
general understanding of why we're doing
the things we're doing in on what
timeline based on the data that's
available to us is an important thing
that I would like to point my
constituents to when they start asking
about easing restrictions or relaxing
restrictions so that so that our
decisions are really being supported by
by the models and the data that are out
there and that they're easily available
to the public if that is if that data is
available publicly
they will think Thank You counselor so
next we have this a counselor floor this
and then Bencomo Thank You mr. mayor and
thank you fellow councillors for your
excellent questions I appreciated very
much the question of councillor basis to
be my concern my question my concerns my
comments are that the northwest part of
the New Mexico it is highly impacted
with you know someone McKinley and
Bernalillo they're all very close to
each other and you're talking
you mentioned tracing but I'm wondering
if there's enough tracing and I'm also
when you look at the states that are
ordering the Northwest
and looking at a map or all the pic Ovid
viruses is present it isn't there
doesn't seem to be a lot of exposure but
then of course adjustable red dots on a
map so and the numbers aren't there so
that that's a you know might might be
concern well I think there's a lot of
concerns as all of us have the tracing
issue I don't think there's enough
tracing and the other and so I would
like you to give us more specific
information on tracing the other is the
stat that we received about two days ago
that the mayor and mr. Mendez made
reference to showed that there were
thirty they had all this breakdown but I
didn't elicit e or race or whatever you
want to call it and I don't know how how
does stats are being compiled for this
purpose or maybe other purposes
throughout the state but I didn't see
Native American and I didn't see this
yeah I would like I think it'd be
necessary and I didn't see any Hispanic
and I don't know if the whites are
considered Hispanics I know and my
father served in world - he was
considered a white I don't know if New
Mexico just considered everybody who is
non African American or non-asian that
everybody else is quite so I would like
to see that that it's true we all know
that at least this part of New Mexico is
at least 67 maybe 70% Hispanic Latino
mexican-american Chicano or whatever but
were non-white so I and I think that
that that is very very important insofar
as assessing how different groups are
being affected yeah we have all those
stats regarding an event in Minnesota
Michigan I believe in Michigan and
gianna where there's a disproportionate
number of african-americans who had been
who have been affected by Ovid well so
that's you know and then the other is
this whole thing about testing I you
know a lot of people what's coming up
now to what's developed these past few
days is that we're finding that or we're
being told what do I find I'm not a
scientist I'm not doing the testing the
research but what we're told via media
is that there are a lot of people who
are asymptomatic there are people who
are tested because the spouse has been
tested and comes out positive and yet
that house is completely symptomatic and
it turns out that person is also a COBIT
victim so how how women we're not
getting the testing we're not getting
enough testing and the results for
people who do have symptoms so what are
we doing about expanding this - it seems
to me almost as if yeah it seems like
everybody would have to be tested
because some of these people who tested
positive said that the only symptoms
they had was a slight headache maybe a
backache oh and the loss of sense of
smell or taste and or case so you know
and then so that's and so all of this
goes to how is it that they can come up
with models without having all these
factors lined up and and then there were
a couple of doctors who came out and
said reported on CNN that that this
pandemic can last through 2022 so you
know I there are two so many factors
that I would love to believe that I
mid-may we have peaked here in New
Mexico I don't think that's going to be
true for the rest of the
world and I don't know how we will
proceed how we can proceed accordingly
and so far as our economic development
our economic losses the adverse effect
its had so as I said these are questions
these are comments these are concerns
but I think there's just a lot of
phenomena that just hasn't been taken
into account or that haven't been taken
into account on eat on any you know and
also someone who has quote recovered
unquote from from this coab in nineteen
there isn't I don't believe there's any
testing after the person is symptom free
and then the powers that be out there
you know dr. Burke and dr. grouchy and
all those people Berkeley dr. Burke are
saying that today yes you can have a
relapse that you really don't have that
so then so then now I think the
scientists or whatever the powers that
be are probably are are saying now that
perhaps there won't be a vaccination or
something that you can take you know
that will prevent catching Cove in
nineteen so I rambled on somewhat it's
kind of a fertile a you know I joke can
any of you address those concerns that
I've expressed are those questions and
those doubts about testing models and
predict the predictions thank you yes
yes thanks just to go through a couple
of these contact tracing we're doing a
lot of contact tracing in the state we
have you know we're approaching we have
about fifteen hundred cases and we are
we're contact trait we're doing contact
investigations and trade
in contact monitoring around all those
and a number of states have stopped
doing that if ever they get a certain
hit a certain number of cases they stop
we've continued doing that and we have
several teams a couple associated with
Department of Health one based at UNM
where you know we've you know thought
about talked about maybe seeing
exploring one down south a team down
south because we do need to ramp up
contact tracing and the governor's
announced that New Mexico is going to be
part of a group of states that are going
to be trying out you know additional
expanded contact tracing along with
additional testing early testing in a
coupled strategy and I think that that's
going to be really that's going to be
really positive for us race ethnicity
data I'm looking at the apartment health
website you guys may or may not know we
have a new dashboard that's up and you
can go to it by doing coronavirus New
Mexico click on the new dashboard and
I'm looking at on the dashboard and you
guys can access that too
37 percent of our cases are American
Indian leading us to the rate the rate
ratio American Indians compared to other
races is about six times higher the rate
for American Indians is about six times
higher than that for other other New
Mexicans and then you mentioned about
the Hispanic population so the static
Latino population and this is the
Hispanic Latino population in New Mexico
as a rate has about twenty four point
five percent of the cases while that
that population has about fifty percent
of the population the state so the rate
for the static population is lower than
that than for the that would be for the
state as a whole so back that is
available on the departmental website
and that's updated daily and you can
also click on Dan Jana County and see
some data for down Hanna County each
breakdown
sex breakdown of cases for Dona Ana
County so if you haven't been able to go
there you may want to check that out
regarding testing I will say that I
think New Mexico is really doing a very
good job with aggressive testing we are
ranked the eighth highest testing rate
based on some reason down I'm looking at
right now all the other states the ahead
of us eighth among states New York
Louisiana Rhode Island Massachusetts
Vermont Washington New Jersey all the
states ranked ahead of us are ahead of
us in the pandemic they've experienced
earlier cases they're going to peak
earlier and all that so we're we're
doing I think relative to other states
were doing relatively well the governor
clearly wants us to do keep doing better
and there's a lot of focus on increasing
testing capacity if you look at the
positive test test rate so the more
testing you do that the lower the
percentage positive rate will be so New
Mexico is currently at four point three
percent we are the fifth lowest in terms
of positivity which suggests we're doing
a lot of we're doing a lot of testing
because as you test more and more and we
do have an option for we do encourage
cases we do encourage contacts of cases
to be specifically household contacts to
be tested we're doing a symptomatic
testing and nursing homes another car
good settings such as shelter
populations and that sort of thing so
there's a lot of testing available in
terms of the peak your your this is
unpredictable in terms of the course of
this pandemic new virus do we end up
with it becoming a seasonal virus like
influenza we don't know yet there's
speculation that will be that will
happen I am I'm personally and I think
many people and if you've heard dr.
pouchy we're counting on a vaccine
Dean within 12 to 18 months and more
recently dr. foul Chia's has said you
know maybe even closer to 12 months
that's great and that's gonna that's
going to help us out and that is in 12
months from now is in 2021 so there are
lots of people speculating lots of
opportunities for people to speculate
and make predictions but we should count
on a vaccine we should kind of know the
vaccine next year and once we get the
vaccine deployed it'll be it'll be a
game-changer for what we're doing before
that happens though an aggressive
approach to testing and contact tracing
which the governor has advocated and is
working with the White House to get
additional resources for is what we need
to put in place so mr. Landon or is it
dr. Landon yes yes what dr. and mr.
doctor okay doctor thank you so as far
as the testing goes so if I if I'm
having a symptom of not being able to
taste or smell and I've had a headache
and I've been very lethargic do I go and
get it will I be tested that's
hypothetical by the way but if I have
all the symptoms and I go will I be
tested I mean I don't have it we're
recommending testing for persons that
have typical symptoms of coded off fever
shortness of breath and for persons that
are that can be asymptomatic if their
contacts of cases if they're in
congregate settings such as nursing
homes shelters and alike
that being said many people are getting
tested in other categories without
classic Ovid symptoms and so the
recommendation that we've put out is
just what I said
but at the same time there are a number
of people be getting tested that don't
meet those criteria and I'm not
advocating that but that's that
reality and we'll get a sense with the
Community Survey that CDC is doing for
Las Cruces looking at basically testing
anybody in the household to get a sense
of positivity rates in Las Cruces
community will have it will have a good
sense of what the the community
infection rate is from that so dr. Levin
did I hear you say that people who are
asymptomatic are being tested but just
within the family household or is that
for anybody I think those terms the CDC
serve the assessment that CDC is doing
right now is a community based survey
and we're getting we're trying to get a
sense of you know the percentage of
people with symptoms and then for that
for that entire group for the community
based survey we're getting we're going
to test as many of those people in those
households as possible regardless of
symptoms to get a sense of what the the
percentage you know the infection rate
is in a community such as Las Cruces
with with relatively low rates of
infection so that's going on that's
going on that's being set up as we speak
as far as the vaccine that the vaccine
is concerned yes dr. Pat Geno's have
said that there could be a big there
could be you know it's Paula fight could
be a vaccine in 12 to 18 months but if
but if the if you don't have immunity
because people do can relapse people are
they're finding people who the doctors
are the powers that be believed that the
person is cured and the person in in
fact for relapses which means that the
the body hasn't that hasn't built up the
immunity so that means that the blood
that is being drawn from volunteers
right now to see if their plasma can be
used as a basis for the vaccine
and and when there's a possibility of
relapse
how how how possible is it to well you
know I think I would not view the
vaccine as speculation I would view it
as something that is very likely to
happen there's no reason to believe it
won't happen next year and there's a lot
of effort going to creating vaccines a
lot of a lot of smart people working on
that kovat is the sort of number one
issue in society today there's a lot of
focus on it you know I expect a vaccine
within 12 to 18 months in terms of
relapse there are lots of reports of
different things is someone is are you
just seeing is it a reinfection or the
just somebody who gets sick again with
the same disease so the studies are in
process but there is there is an
expectation even though we don't have
the hard evidence to back it up
completely that there is immunity from
kovin infection and that's what we
expect and know the further studies that
will that will you know make that
clearer but vaccine I don't think we
should be doubting that a vaccine is on
its way because of vaccine I mean we're
going to be going to human trials here
pretty soon and there's no reason to
there should be no reason to believe
that we won't have a vaccine next year
thank you very much dr. Landon Thank You
counselor we have a council Bencomo and
then mere pretender
thank you so much to everyone that's
presented dr. Linden ray I really
appreciate your you being on here and
taking the time to talk to us but I have
a several question so I'm just going to
jump in I think that councillor Vasquez
sort of had asked this as well but I
think I want to just like react and then
echo some of those things because it'll
be important to get this information out
to the public but I would like to hear
definitely from you know our medical
experts I think given the low numbers
that we're seeing in Dona Ana County and
in our community and that our surgeon or
people be much later I think that
instinct for some will be well great
let's just reopen right if we're doing
so well maybe we can just get back to
business as usual and so I think it's
important for us to hear from our public
health experts about about the what the
recommendation actually for that would
be for for quality makers yeah I would
just I would just say that it's not time
to reopen it's not really I I you know
the governor I think is stated it very
well you know we have to this is a major
public health issue for our society for
New Mexico and throughout New Mexico the
statewide issue the the interventions
that have been placed put in place are
working and we we actually want them to
work better we want social distancing to
decrease further so we as a population
as a community or multiple communities
we can do better with that and we can
reduce infection rates more by doing
that so it's premature to talk about
reopening
we haven't even peaked yet thank you
thank you so much for for stating that
once again I really appreciate it I
understand the instinct to want to say
let's just get back to normal and I see
um but we I think I also deeply deeply
understand that that it's just the wrong
decision at this time well given what
has happened at the Supreme Court this
week will the Department of Health be
putting out recommendations from
municipalities as we begin
prepare for our January or June primary
uh that that's being that's being
discussed right now and I yeah there
there there should be recommendations
coming out I would I would expect them
to be coming out of the governor
governor's office and from the governor
I would you know every expectation that
there will be recommendations coming out
[Music]
is the Department of Health continuing
to give and to provide testing supplies
for for testing clinics down here as
well as PPE Don do you wanna do you want
to take a stab at that one from the
regional perspective sure documented so
before a public health proper we are we
continue to do testing well we're just
gonna do testing here in Las Cruces
office Monday through Friday as far as
PPE testing kits yes other you know
community partners are able to order
those supplies to the doc so through the
state they are provided that equipment
and that the request for that again go
through the office of the emergency
manager there's a certain form of 213
form that I shared in order to request
the PPE through the OEM is that when you
sound sorry any much time yes I'm sorry
there Bencomo through the Office of
Emergency Management okay um do you
maybe I don't know if this is a question
for you mr. David but you know it has
the only m been requesting these
resources from the state as we prepare
for the surge yes I mean absolutely I
think again it's a process the the
request go to the doc at the state level
and again the doc is responsible to look
at supplies for the entire state so we
do send in requests even for us we kind
of try and send a request in for
probably the next week that leave so we
have enough to cover but there is I know
and eckerline you might be able to speak
about it to the governor's able to
access the national stockpile together
we resources into the state then can be
shared around to those that need it
throughout the state so it's a statewide
process for sure right um yeah I mean I
think given that you know our Surgenor
because likely later
you know mid May perhaps that I think it
gives us a good time to prepare right to
be prepared and to ensure that we have
the resources that we need maybe in that
way it's it's a positive thing for sure
you know the last thing they'll say are
mostly about data and you know the
reason I've been asking for data that
includes them that includes demographics
and zip codes it's not just for me on us
to understand the virus it's really
about understanding who is being
impacted you know I think people keep
saying that this virus doesn't
discriminate which is true what does
discriminate is our government entities
what does discriminate our government
responses and public health data Austin
which then allows or inequities to
continue to grow as we as we plan a
response for the crisis but even for the
aftermath right how do we ensure that
the hardest hit communities recover just
as fast economically physically mentally
spiritually and you know as we think
about about clean how do we make sure
with this data right we'll be able to
say these are the communities that
should be allowed access to the vaccine
first which in New Mexico clearly that
should be our Native American
communities but I think that this is why
I've been asking for for this data I
think it's really important to
understand that our our low-income
communities are being impacted heavily
and the hardest
you know it's important to understand
who who is being hit the hardest then we
can deploy resources equitably and that
those who are hurting the most or
getting the most health so I appreciate
the you know everybody's willingness to
seek out that that data
I was also disappointed to see that in
the data we received just this week I
was really excited we got the data this
week right breakdown in demographic but
I was excited to see the erasure of
Latinos in that data and but I'm glad to
hear dr. Landon say that that that we
can find out on Department of Health so
obviously that I don't know that wasn't
really necessarily a question but if you
know anybody wants to respond to that I
would love to hear your thoughts as
medical professionals and if but if not
that's it from me thank you thank you we
have like Mayor Pro Tem gondola a
conscious org and then I can't separate
this TV mayor pro-tem
thank you thank you to dr. Landon done
son chest and David Morgan I know how
busy you are dr. lamp and I have the
utmost respect for you we've worked a
long time side-by-side at the Department
of House many years ago and so I have
been sort of pouting basically what my
experience is and what I do know that
Department of Health does and does very
well is this idea of tracing and
infectious disease and really trying to
you know break the cycle if you will I
think that's super super important so I
appreciate you being on the line and I
my questions are around a who dictates
or in terms of the number of testing
that gets assigned to our our community
the the approach is set up you know
through Department of Health and the
governor's office
and there's a lot of a lot of focus sort
of a two-fold focus one is on hot spots
so in areas like in places like nursing
homes detention centers jails homeless
population in those sorts of settings
where are people becoming symptomatic
where are there cases among staff or the
residents so there's there's a lot of
focus on that and there's a lot of you
know it's like real time something that
happens in the you know we we do a case
investigation at 10:00 p.m. at night at
6:45 at the 6:45 meeting folks are
deployed to go test at that particular
place that we just we just noticed a
case so there's there's a lot of
responsiveness to where cases are
popping up at the same time it's
acknowledged that you know where we test
we'll see more cases and and therefore
we need to make sure we had a
representative testing strategy
throughout the state so with the with a
rapid test deployment deploying the
rapid testing abot machines that was
that was pretty much those were pretty
much deployed throughout the non
Albuquerque metro area and and as I
mentioned you know I believe that
Mountain View and memorial both got
those machines so there is so testing
decisions are made on two levels one
where we sing the cases
let's test more to reduce spread around
those cases and then let's get a
representative idea of where throughout
the state of where cases that you know
they have been undetected are and the
nursing of approach that is being geared
up that we talked about a little bit
before where we where we are going into
a systematic approach to
most nursing homes in the state and many
of whom don't have any indication of
cases don't have any staff that have had
kovat I think that's that's a really
good proactive approach so we have sort
of both the reactive cases in the
proactive approach that is being that's
in place thank you for that um you
mention and I've been asked several
times if testing has been conducted at
the detention center do we know that to
be accurate um either dr. nandan or dun
dun do you know about the detention
center in Las Cruces whether there's
testing that's occurred there dr. Landon
and counselors under a Mayor Pro Tem
Glenda I'm sorry I I do not I do not
know if there's testing occurring there
I do know that they have been working to
get their own supplies though to through
the the same process with the doc to be
able to order their own tests kitchen
supplies to be able to test them as
needed there at the detention center but
I don't have I can definitely get you
some more information on that though
that would be that would be great and
I'm wondering that stop could reach out
to make sure that our citizenry there is
being tested I think I would hate for
there to be an outbreak and that's not
be proactive enough at this point
especially when dr. Landon has indicated
those are sort of the hot but you know
the places where we should be checking
um the other thing is and I've asked and
I'm hoping that there is some
follow-through is yeah Colin is ensuring
that our shelters like community of Hope
gospel rescue mission our teen shelter a
youth shelter I know that Don thank you
so much for entertaining the call or the
texting back and forth between you and I
and families and youth incorporated
clinical director I know one of the
concerns that they have that they get
they're accepting youth right that are
coming from all over the state and
there's been some concern about some of
the
and stop being exposed at having the the
symptoms and so I just want to make sure
that we in our areas that that that
there's access and that there's special
attention I'm being made to these
particular special groups and I'm I'm
not sure that that's the case and so it
I feel like it requires conversations I
know that I've been seeing notes from
oleum that it feels like at least
community of hope cYFD are a part of
some of these conversations but I again
I'm asking for people to reach out to
families and youth incorporated and all
our other nonprofits our daycare centers
that are still currently caring for
children specifically children of our
first responders and our medical our
medical community I think is so so
important because they are probably
because a parent's right and I'm not
sure what arrangements have been made
that they could be exposed
um I I'm looking through my notes sorry
let me I I appreciate my colleagues um
specifically I've been receiving several
emails from small businesses very
concerned about you know closing and
specifically places like that are that
that sounds sort of like equipment
physical fitness equipment and what not
feeling like they could be looked at as
essential I I'm starting to feel like
there is huge
as we talked about discriminate
discrepancies
is like from the big box to the smaller
can smaller businesses like for example
why is Walmart and places of that sort
still open still selling clothing still
Shelley you know items that maybe are
not deemed essential so dr. Landon do
you know if there's conversations being
had about sort of looking into very
carefully and being saved small
businesses that might be able to be
opened up such as the ones that I've
made mention um they're pretend I'm not
I'm not I'm not privy to those sort of
discussions but I mean I would imagine
that those are going on but I don't I
don't know for sure okay here pretend I
can just jump in real quick so every
Thursday group of Mayors about 40 or 50
of us around the state have discussions
and so what you've just pointed out and
councillor Vasquez that pointed out is
there's a there's going to be a few of
them we're gonna be trying to talk with
the governor to see about if there's a
few select that could slowly open and if
certain restrictions are put in place
like requiring all the employees to have
masks and gloves and maybe even take
temperatures of customers who might be
coming in so there those discussions are
happening or going to happen they're
trying to get a meeting with the
governor and I'll keep you guys keep the
Kazi council apprised of what it takes
place thank you Mary and lastly I have
been a social worker I've been concerned
with a mental health and kovat social
isolation I've appreciated the work and
the collaborative efforts that are being
made and done with various departments
but as you know social distancing is one
of those things that also leads to
nationally thing you made mention of
substance abuse and I know that
those things are clearly at play in the
northern part of the of the state but I
I wanna I wanna put up and dr. Landon if
you are seen any specific issues as it
relates to substance abuse mental health
in Kovac particularly in our area and
what we might do to help deflect that
and/or assist as a municipality
encouraging folks to seek help we've
done some things already each one of the
counselors have done 30-second segments
as it relates to child abuse our water
supply our if you're experiencing a
crises the crisis line and all those
resources are being put up on our
website and our channel 20 but are there
any other things that you think we
should be thinking about moving forward
mayor pro-tem yeah I think that's I
think that's an excellent point
the most vulnerable people in society
are also most vulnerable to code and I
think that that point has been made by a
number of people today we really have to
think about the whole person in this as
we're dealing with kovat and I think I
think the state of New Mexico has really
and also community such as yours have
really done a good job thinking beyond
just the infection and that's that's
critical we are we're hoping to have
some data relatively soon on an ongoing
telephone survey that we do you know as
we've done it for you know 25 years of
adults in New Mexico and we have some we
have some specific additional Kovach
questions in there but then we have the
basic questions how is your you know
have you been drinking lately smoking
have you been sad how many days
is your mental health not good all those
things and so hopefully we'll have some
at least preliminary data available and
perhaps for communities as large as Las
Cruces or Duncan Academy maybe I'll have
some of that but for what you all I mean
I think just having this forum allowing
people to think of these issues and also
think of ways that people can get
connections to others while they're
being socially isolated particularly
people with mental illness and substance
use disorders the you know telemedicine
video conferencing that sort of thing
may or may not be the ideal strategy for
some of these people but just you know
how can we connect to people better who
might be isolated and at greater risk of
complications from this disease yeah I
appreciate that I am one of the things
that I've been pushing and you mentioned
social determinants of health and and
just with your comment with telehealth
and our broad broadband and or the
digital divide this doesn't work even
for folks within our urban community and
so I'm deeply concerned that we're
asking folks to sort of move into doing
things remotely telehealth when people
don't have access to computers and
Internet and so I'd really love for I
guess it's just more directed to staff
or us to start looking at possibly
deploying hotspots looking at these
community members that because if we can
if we can keep our community healthy
that means getting them to as
conservation indicated some of these
physicals these check-ins that are being
done via diabetes and such then then
we're better for it as a community but
if they don't have access to these very
and my mind basic
um services or basic tools then we've
done it the service and so I don't know
how we move to that and and I'm sure
there's data out there that would
support where these hotspots are not
call them that that don't have the kind
of and we could probably work with the
schools as they start moved into doing
business online they are well aware of
families that are struggling so it's one
thing to offer free internet for a
couple of months but it's another to
really understand that some of these
families don't have a laptop a computer
and so I feel very strongly if we're
gonna get information out and then I
also I also I'm concerned about a lot of
our stuff put it being put on our
channel 20 when a lot of folks don't
have channel 20 as well so we moved into
a radio spots and you know our Facebook
and those things again you have to have
the electronics to be able to access
that so I'm hoping that stack could do
some research looking at data reaching
out to our schools to see if the
deployment of hotspots might be a way
and or maybe considering opening up our
library as a space for folks to get
information which I know is is I'm
exposing our folks and more than we want
that to happen and so I again I feel
really strongly about this I also want
to say that I've been talking about
online platforms such as mental health
screenings for depression and anxiety
and other mental health issues that I
think is going to be really important I
feel like we need to do this sooner than
later and would really love to see
that being placed on our website as an
avenue for people to to assess and then
be able to find the resources I just had
a meeting yesterday with several
nonprofits and folks that are very
interested in working with a me or with
us to ensure that that takes place so
there are some very innovative
discussions and things that are
happening particularly from fYI the peek
MMC Mountainview
and others that are offering those kinds
of things but I'd love to see an online
platform of assessments being offered to
our constituency and so I'm hoping that
staff could David I know we - just we've
been talking about this a little bit but
I really am deeply concerned and until
we figure out you know where people are
at so that we can deploy those resources
um I think we need to again do that
sooner than later
thank you fair this Mayor Pro temp let
me just ask a quick question Jennifer
our city attorney Jennifer let me ask
you this if the city was to set aside
some money for telemedicine let's say we
contract out with o 10/10 doctors or so
at say seventy five hundred apiece can
we have like a can they have like a call
in so that that members of the community
who are who need that assistance or
someone to talk to a medical doctor
whether they may think they may have
Cova 19 or they may have some other
issues is that something that would be
allowed do you think or would we need
some time to research that there's
Jennifer there jennifer is there but we
can't hear you Jennifer
mm-hmm yeah we can't okay well we'll
come back to that whenever she has a
chance so we'll go ahead and go to
counselors sword and then counselor
debate the student okay
Thank You mayor um my question it
actually is kind of a repeat apologize
for that I think the mayor and by way of
the Mayor Pro Tem touched upon this but
I want to get an answer that is
confirming the planning for the future
concerning the core Kovach 19 and
involving more testing in the state
processes and how businesses will open
and not assert a timeline but maybe a
timeline but especially testing
employees that might have access to the
public things of that nature is the
state plan making plans for that right
now just yes or no answer would be fine
in terms of testing yes lots of focus on
testing okay and then plans for how we
might open up the economy some you know
the governor has I think spoke to that
just yesterday and yeah she's she's yeah
I think about the future right I mean I
you know we're focused on getting
getting to the peak with reducing okay
illness and death at this point our
that's our major focus right now but I
think the governor has spoken to you
know at least thinking about beyond the
peak okay
good counselor that's my statement
forget I'm sorry sir could you hear me
David yes my apologies I'm sorry to
interrupt right counselor the the
governor has definitely spoken to this
you know she and you know even the
Department of Health understand that the
tremendous economic hardship that that
our community and our state
are experiencing you know it's the the
only thing truly that is going to be
able to dictate our ability to be able
to begin to reopen our state is going to
be those case numbers we can goes down
if we can sustain keeping them down and
we can have you know some some
reliability that we are not going to get
outside out of the state cases flying
back into New Mexico to again spike
spread that is going to be the the true
factor in this everybody to be able to
reopen the state country they just does
this plan involve any testing for the
novel coronavirus antibodies there's
there's there is discussion of that both
nationally and at state level so there
that's under consideration about the
best approach there just many different
approaches to it the test is new use the
worst thing you can do is give people
false
basically false information from best
results so we've got to get the test
right and there there's exploration of
the best test for antibody testing right
now okay you're thinking about it though
that's announcing yeah all right thank
you very much and thank you mr. mayor
thank you before I get to counselor beta
Stevie so Jennifer just texted me that
she's having trouble with her audio but
the show go and research that issue
regarding whether or not we might be
able to hire doctors for telemedicine
okay councillor abate the Stewie Thank
You mayor and thank you dr. Landon I
have a couple follow-up questions
regarding that the rapid testing that
you said was now going to be available
in Las Cruces are there any special
considerations for one to receive rapid
tests you do they need to be adhere to
certain levels of symptomatic or is it
the same guidelines are used for those
tests as the rate of our tests that are
sent up to canopy the avid the rapid
happened test infrastructure that was
sent out to many hospitals throughout
the state is largely it's largely being
left up to the the particular hospital
to make those decisions our assumption
is that they'll follow the state
guidelines but they're there it's really
not it's not really not being restricted
and they can use it using their medical
judgment to do appropriate testing okay
and about how many of those tests are
now currently available in Las Cruces
yep I'm not I don't have that number I'm
not sure I'm not sure how many of those
are available at this time and dr.
Landon coming up Don or David if you all
know that um currently and currently
right now they we do not have their
Abbott rapid tests here in Las Cruces at
MMC or more of you they do have it at
Gerald champion so from my understanding
from our epidemiology nurse that both
Gerald's that both MMC and Mountain View
are are taking their tests that they're
collecting here to magar doe every day
to get that rapid test done on them
right okay okay
is there plans to have our major
hospitals be able to have that those
capabilities you're in town councillors
do they I'm sorry and dr. Landon I'm not
sure if you know that I don't know how
they determined I knew that they were
sending out those rapid tests the more
rural hospitals but I don't know how
that was all determined or if there's
going to be more coming Dutch London do
you know yeah I mean I've done I believe
I I mean we need to get our message
straight here he I am I was under the
impression that we had I'm looking for
this list and state law and I apologize
for hitting at star six slowly
you know the the answer is we want to be
able to get that testing available for
Los Cruces as well we only did get a
handful of those test kits and as Donda
reported the emphasis was getting those
out to more rural counties at this time
as we get more tests the more you're
going to see hospitals being able to
have those in hand so for clarifications
sake we do not have rapid testing here
in Las Cruces then that is my
understanding right now yes but I will
also be happy to confirm with both
hospitals for you okay and then there is
hopefully then plans that we will be
having those rapid tests there for Las
Cruces there is every intent absolutely
okay and what is our current time now to
receive for a hospital when they give
out a test what's the current time that
it's taking them to get back either a
positive or a negative confirmation I
wouldn't be able to speak for the
hospitals quickly you know yes some of
them may actually do outsource testing
it's still at this point but any testing
that is done certainly by the Department
of Health is sent to our scientific
laboratories in Albuquerque the other
the other lab currently testing in New
Mexico is tricor between the two of us
we have an excellent daily testing
capacity that continues to grow by the
week and our turnaround time
collectively it is within 24 to 72 hours
and that depends on several factors not
least of which is at the travel time to
be able to get the test samples to the
lab and also priority is absolutely
given to Co good positive cases to be
able to reach out for test results thank
you that's good to hear I think my main
concern with it and I'm
I think I keep posing this question as
you know the second-largest city here if
we do experience a high peak it's going
to be so important that we have that
rapid testing available and that we're
able to really make sure how best to
treat patients if we have 72 hours to
wait for a positive result and we're
accepting patients from rural
communities and you know that we're a
larger community ourselves I can see how
that process could get very slowed down
and that I don't think that's very wise
of us as a city we need to be able to
have that rapid rapid testing and we
need we need to make sure that we have a
very good plan in place for that I were
able to have a facility if tricor is
able to test you're an auspicious but I
just think it is so important that we
have testing capability here in town
that we do not have to keep sending
things up to Albuquerque I think that's
going to be very important and it seems
like perhaps we have enough time to
figure out how to plan best and if it's
something that the city needs to help
with you know I I just want to make sure
that we we are planning a special as
possible before that that you can
measure so thank you I would just I
would add I mean excuse me David um then
we do Las Cruces is on the distribution
list and which we received both Memorial
Mountain View that I mean I think what
we're hearing from both from dawn is
that maybe those that test is not
deployed at this moment but those two
hospitals are on the distribution list
and perhaps David you can provide people
with an update after we get this cleared
up a little bit yeah absolutely
absolutely your concerns are absolutely
justified I'll make it my job to figure
out if both of our hospitals have those
test kits in hand currently and if not
when they will thank you and I'd like to
add and I hope that's for not just the
rapid response but just the regular
testing to
see no reason why a place our eyes
should not have the capability to test
in our own city and to have those
results and I think that um when the
search when all of these different
entities are going to kind of be
bombarded with items we need to be able
to handle our cases in our cities we
need to be able to test all packages so
I are to seeing how we can work with
that and how we can best help make that
happen understandable it is going to be
really dependent on the technology
actually available within our community
the ability of even having a test
capacity I personally don't know what
that is for Los Cruces in Dona Ana
County but we will collectively find out
together thank you I think that'd be
great find out what we need to make that
happen
you know it looks like if our search
isn't in our peak and expected so
towards me I can look to see what best
resources that we can bring here so
thank you and thank you Mary if you
count sir mayor pro-tem you have a
comment yeah
yes mayor its to this point thank you
councilors of APIs Silvia I appreciate
you powering through this and making it
very clear that the second largest
county in the state should have that
capability not only for testing regular
testing the rapids have seen but also
for the laboratory we have a try core
here again David Morgan mr. Morgan I'm
not sure again like you said what our
technology is our capability but we
should have the ability and to come
service to these point El Paso is just
down the street so if we can and many of
our people go and seek services there
labs hospitals those kinds of things I'm
hoping that we can we could not only
have the testing but the labs the
results so that it stays here locally
and we ensure that our people are
getting rapid response and I know now
dr. nandan and David I have again the
utmost respect and a confidence that you
will do all that you can to ensure that
our county is taking care Thank You
mayor
Thank You councillor Bencomo mr. mayor
thank you just want to say one quick
last comment because it's something that
dr. Hinton said that really stuck with
me and I feel like I can't shake it off
but in response to a question about when
you know reopening our economy dr.
Landon said right now our focus is on
reducing sickness and death and that was
really powerful and heartbreaking and so
I just want to thank you for your focus
and clarity but also your commitment to
to our communities so thank you thank
you very much no sir Vasquez Thank You
mayor short comment for me I just want
to thank councillor abate the Stu V for
the wonderful questions yesterday but
also for making sure that we get the
resources that we need as well as the
folks on the phone from the Department
of Health for your patience and
understanding in in this whole process
but you know we do need the resources
that are that are should equitably be
distributed to us and so you know
oftentimes there's a kind of a
disconnect south of Socorro especially
when it comes to the centralized kind of
operations that happen between now occur
key and Santa Fe so just want to think
counselor obeyed this doobie and
everybody on the phone today for taking
the time to be with us and for making
sure that that our folks down here get
what they need to keep their community
safe thank you thank you David my Estes
yes mayor thank you very much for
turning back to me I appreciate that
this is for David Morgan mr. Morgan you
know we talked about the zip code
information you also mention the Sandia
information they're projections and data
that they put together to make things
easier if you could just send them
directly to me and then we do one of two
things if it's information that I am
allowed to pass on we will put that on
our city website which we have done with
the majority of information you have
sent to us for example the dashboard
that you
just now counsel and anybody watching
this you can click on to the link that
we have on the says web page for our
Kovac 19 updates anytime an update is
sent to us we put it on that link the
other thing that you can do there is a
button on there another link that allows
you to receive notifications rather than
you having to go to that website all
over again if you click on that link any
time when you update the police it will
automatically be sent to you so that
you're aware of new information that
comes through so mr. Morgan if you can
give me those items I would greatly
appreciate that send them all directly
to me disseminated accurately for people
to be aware so that they understand the
situation but also to help us as we're
making informed decisions and then sorry
go ahead sir I was just agreeing with
you absolutely we will get that
information to you request we have posed
it before in many different situations
through OEM through emails that are sent
directly to Department of Health but one
of the things that we would really like
assistance with and I know this is
something that may not be able to be
public but if we could get a little bit
more specific on identifications from
other cases for first responders one of
the biggest concerns that we have and
I'm sure you've heard this throughout
the state is that as a first responder
is hanging to a household we want to
know for sure if there is a potential
for a positive case there so that they
are adequately addressed staff has a
correct PPE s in place there for their
personal protective equipment we don't
want to expose or jeopardize our first
responders in cases where we know that
we can have additional protections
granted I know that that is probably not
something that would be sent out to
everybody but if there is a way we can
work on a system through our first
responders networks that we can get some
kind of information to make them safer
as well when they are responding to
incidents that we can talk about more
offline as maybe mr. Morgan but we would
appreciate anything that can be done
with that respect
yes sir and these are the folks with us
here on this call are exactly the people
that will be working with on that
excellent thank you for that I
appreciate it
that is all that I had man thank you
okay thanks David well I just want to
take a quick moment to thank you dr.
Landon and Dave Morgan and conscious for
all your assistance and sharing with us
all this information you know I know
it's a very tough what you all are doing
and we appreciate your support and
information and sharing with us here
this this morning so if there's nothing
further
I believe it's appropriate to get a
motion a second to adjourn
mayor if you don't mind we did have a
presentation I know staff also put some
work into it they could easily say we
can move on oh no I didn't see that just
so that is information gathering
dissemination sure but the presentation
that staff has put together is about the
dissemination part I kind of touched on
it lightly on how we get the information
out but I know council has been
concerned about the information comes to
us and what has been sent out as well as
public so that they are aware of how
they can receive as much information as
possible so if it's okay with you I will
turn it over to mr. UNLV Gil and he will
start off the presentation gotcha thanks
sorry you though one moment we're gonna
get on board got disconnected oh there
you go counselor sword there you go
yes mr. Merrill I have just a quick what
no I was but you're gonna chime in with
your f5 no I have just a quick question
I'd like to ask the council when you're
done with the presentation okay can hear
you Adrian
are we good
yeah I can hear you down okay very good
sorry about that everyone and good
morning and and thank you again as David
said Jaime Rickman and I are going to
kind of do a dual presentation on the
public outreach both of our offices have
been doing since the start of this
situation back around March 11th and
12th so I'm going to start off with the
communications office outreach which is
a multimedia bilingual campaign and one
of the things the council has been
commenting about recently is to use more
radio or to start using radio for our
outreach so I'm going to kick off with
that so we did media buys with both both
Bravo my communications and the Adams
radio group I'll start off with Bravo
Mike our total ad buy with them is a
little over three thousand dollars which
gets us 336 page spots 186 paid 150
bonus for a total of 336 the schedule
actually started on Tuesday of this week
and will run through May 3rd so the
three of the stations that we bought on
Bravo Mike are 101 gold which is classic
hits in the demographic group is 35 plus
you'll see like the slides that we have
a mix of demographics to hit as many
people as possible in the community well
you'll notice on the schedule
62 paid and 50 bonus and the the time
periods at underneath those are going to
be the same for the following two
stations right so we have 336 spots
though we divided them equally among the
three stations so that's 101 gold
classic hits
next we did the spanish-language station
which is 96.7 and their demographic
group is 18 to 49 which is a little
younger and finally with Bravo mic magic
105 adult contemporary with the 25:54
age group moving on to Adams radio our
total by there was approximately $2,500
which gets us 278 spots combination of
paid and bonus box that schedule
actually begins this Monday and will run
through May 8th so you'll see a little
overlap and pushing it out from the may
search a date with Bravo Mike to mate
8th with Adams radio the stations we
bought there are K great 104 which is a
country music format 18 to 54
demographic we have 98 spots
total on that station and the schedule
is money through Friday 6a to 7p and the
bonus spots run Mondays and Thursday 6 8
a midnight we also did hot 103 which
it's an english-language station but
we're also they're also agreeing to run
the Spanish spots for us and their demo
is 18 to 34 that schedule is money since
Thursday 6a to 7p and then the bonus
spots are money through Sunday 6 a.m. to
midnight so we have the Spanish station
on the Bravo Mike site we have Spanish
running on Adams radio on hot 103 and
they're also running the Spanish spots
on classic 98 7 which is 35 to 64 demo
the schedule is pretty much the same and
we have 30 total spots on that station
and lastly it's cool oldies which is the
demographic of 55 plus we have a total
of a hundred spots running there 50k the
bonus and that schedules Monday through
Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and then the
bonus spots are running money from
Friday 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. in terms of the
video site we actually started our
outreach on March 5th the david morgan
reference this and his presentation when
we did that live Cogan 19 forum in city
council chambers which we televised in
Street
live on that was with dr. Michael Landon
and another gentleman with an MBO H
along with David following that we did a
message a 30-second message with Mayor
me miyaji Sheila addressing the
community once the outbreak had really
taken hold in our state and that was
followed by on March 14th we dedicated
our cable TV channel Comcast channel 20
exclusively to Cove in nineteen
information and that's running 24/7 and
it's continually updated then on April
1st we co-produced with the joint
information center and our partners in
the county a video with the mayor the
county manager of the school
superintendent and David Morgan from an
MBO H all right so we launched a a video
campaign involving all seven mayors of
council and this was done both in
English and Spanish for a total of 14
spots so what you see before you are the
counselors and the topics they address
so the mayor addressed adhering to the
emergency order and councillor Bencomo
did the Spanish version of that Mayor
Pro Ken gandara was addressing child
abuse of prevention she did both English
and Spanish
counselor basis to be took on the topic
of mental illness awareness and
councillor Vasquez did the Spanish
version councillor Vasquez adjusts the
City Council emergency action similar to
what you did earlier this morning and he
did both as did councillor Bencomo she
did both of hers as well councillor
sword talked about the high quality of
our tap water and councillor Vasquez did
the Spanish version for him and
councillor florist talked about
basically patience and kindness let's be
nice to each other in this difficult
time and she recorded both English and
Spanish as well along with the video
campaign we posted a hot topic and I
know councils interested in doing as
much English to Spanish as as possible
so if you look on the left side of the
screen this is the actual hot topic
badge if you will
that appears on the homepage of the
website so the message itself is in is
in English in Spanish and when you click
on the link it'll take you to the page
similar to the one that you see here but
it's an English in Spanish as well
so that is what people will see when
they go to the home page of the website
now these videos that we did with you
all council are gonna already appearing
on Facebook Instagram Twitter ELC TV
that's the cable channel YouTube and the
city website and we're investing two
thousand dollars in the social media
campaign we started rolling out those
videos on April 11th and the last one
just went out today and that campaign is
going to run through April 25th the
videos that were recorded in English are
closed caption in Spanish and as I said
they've been posted one per day from
this through today on the social media
sites along with YouTube and the city
website videos are recorded in Spanish
that are appearing on Facebook and
Instagram and a paid advertising
campaign so were specifically targeting
Spanish speakers on Facebook and
Instagram with the spanish-language
videos on CLC TV we've got that
continuous information going as I said
we dedicated that channel 24/7 but we're
going to be airing those videos as well
in a block segment once per hour and as
I said and it showed you just a minute
ago you're able to access those on the
hot topic on the home page of the
website I did contact Telemundo and
Univision affiliates in El Paso and
asked if they would consider running the
Spanish version of those PSAs and they
did express an interest so we're gonna
be providing them the links to those
videos in hopes that they do push those
out on their TV stations other outreach
that the Communications Office has done
right away when when it all started
hitting back on March 11th the first
thing we did was we put a hot topic on
our homepage with websites to NN do H
the governor's office just trying to get
some initial information out out there
and then we followed up by estab
Shiina cobia 19 alert center which is
the primary source of all this
information on the website counsellors
Vasquez and big como liked the idea of
doing a vanity URL for that page so
counselor Vasquez actually made the
choice of Cove in nineteen las cruces
comm that went live on March 17 so today
you'll see these the number of news
releases and web posts that we've done
approximately 122 and this this number
is a few days old so we pushed a little
more out so that number is a little
higher as are the number of alerts
center posts we have at 171 and that's
probably around 180 now the Facebook
page posts we've done 79 that are covin
related including streaming all of the
governor's news conferences from Santa
Fe City Manager Facebook pace post the
new page 76 posts and the city manager
report which is goes up by email 42
we're working with utilities to put an
insert in the may billing promoting more
social distancing because that seems to
be one of the biggest issues that we're
facing or people adhering to that so
that message will be going out at may
also Las Cruces utilities as you know
initiated an alert set system where they
can actually put out push out messages
to utility customers approximately
24,000 each time so they've done three
so far they did the park closures right
before he stirred they did I'm pushing
out a message that they're gonna
discontinue shut offs and now they're in
the process of pushing out the English
and Spanish messages that you all
council recorded and are using his radio
and TV spots so that that's it for the
communication side in terms of outreach
and so now I'm going to turn it over to
my colleague Jamie Rickman who is
hitting the community engagement office
well good afternoon everybody it's
almost noon thank you for allowing us to
be able to present this information what
you see on the first slide here for me
community engagement office our bus rats
that my office created for quality of
life department and that's one of the
things that we've done is being able to
support these departments and their
individual targeted messages to their
clients so this one is also in Spanish I
didn't have that version in time for
this presentation next slide please
so pouring over view of the engagement
since March 18th you know where we were
pushing out information about code 19
testing availability when it came first
available and we requested we make all
suit other departments to please push it
out to their databases which was really
important because not only do we have a
lot of access in and exposure with our
traditional methods but all of our
databases that we've been gathering
through meetings and just everything and
it was very important to use as well and
so we put out also general code 19
public health messages and then what do
you do during public health order
lockdown it's for families and children
with children you know it was that have
to be really full of tension there
because kids were at home and they
didn't have anything to do to speak up
and so we were putting out or as helping
the support put out programming for
kiddos so the visual that you see here
are going to be seat covers and posters
for transit seats to help people to
guide people into knowing where the
social distancing is appropriate on the
bus next slide please
and then just and again this is just a
real quick summary of what we've been up
to you and it's continuing on but we've
had to do some readjustment of our work
load because of code of 19 and that
primarily has affected the census
outreach and engagement we've had to
cancel all in-person events and retool
everything toward social media and then
we're also having to rethink of course
and in regroup on the general obligation
bond public meetings those are really
critical but we figured out a way of a
hybrid way of providing the information
garnering that input that we saw
meaningfully see from people on the
project and then being able to report
that back in a transparent manner and
then both of those campaigns are helping
to provide more information to us
regarding the code that 19 messaging and
we approach the messaging as well
because as it's been noted throughout
this whole meeting is that there are
folks who have great access to digital
resources but then there are folks who
don't so what is that's our biggest
challenge obviously is to reach those
folks you don't have that action next
light fuse so the focus of activities as
you know that mentioned to our support
my office is support with this is
generating those those email excuse me
those news releases for the content so
we've been generating that content for
news relations that have wide
distribution used on the city website
used in social media as well and then
we've been pushing like crazy to the
notify me subscriptions option which is
really important then there's a social
media Facebook and it's spam for the
city library Parks and Recreation
transit there are also other Facebook
pages that aren't owned hold on quote
owned by the city like the southern New
Mexico
Earth Day but we may not maintain but we
provide links and likes and keep growing
those messages on those external social
media platforms so we can keep that
energy going and let people know that
hey we're still active these are
messages coming up and this is how it
pertains to your area of interest
then on the city website we've been
updating content on individual pages
with messaging and you know on the
website as you well know you can select
your language of preference on there and
so that becomes bilingual depending on
the readers and the users preferences
and so a lot of those pages that we were
updating include those that are listed
there and next slide please
and these are the examples so we have
updates with Roadrunner transit senior
programs senior planning and more on
senior programs and then social media
senior programs this is just an example
next slide please
and then as I mentioned earlier the
department databases were super
important in this effort and we have
quality of life Parks and Recreation
economic development community
development public meetings so that all
results from about ten thousand direct
email contacts which is just phenomenal
I think we contacted boards and
commission members which we asked them
to distribute widely to their groups as
well so that was an initial contact of
130 people and then who knows how much
that translates into when they spread
that out as well and like the virus
itself in some ways Department support
for message development email
notifications signs of facilities we
assisted with that as well and we
enabled the because of our systems we
were enabling directors and department
staff to be able to focus on their
operational aspects knowing that they're
missing their specific messaging was
being taken care of next slide please
so by the numbers and they need to put a
caveat on these numbers so this is just
a snapshot for you all and what this
means is that it doesn't account for one
person who might be in various channels
who might be signed up for social media
or the notify me subscription or any of
these other things so it's just a
snapshot it just kind of helps give you
an idea of the numbers involved the
staff were involved with helping with
the storytime for example with with the
library and so those specific videos
that were developed storytime for
example had 1500 views protocols which
means washing your hands and doing the
right things and protecting yourself
from code 19 that video had 1400 views
right now staffs working much that's
working on a transit video which is
currently in production to help
understand what that social distance
distance thing looks like on a vehicle
databases again about 10,000
people reached sex section Department
Facebook and Instagram followers in this
instance the cities as well it's about
it's a reach of sixteen thousand six
hundred and fifty four people to the
feedback city Facebook and Instagram
followers also 22,000 that was separated
out twenty two thousand three hundred
and thirty six and then the city website
subscribers for notify means one
thousand four hundred and sixty four
excellent news and then specific areas
of focus as you priority well now is
transit with bus wraps banner seat
markers and video parks and recreation
you can exercise at home contacting tips
and that's what the little visual there
is the graphic is there that was one of
the first ones that we put out there and
we kept putting out information weekly
about the types of exercise which we do
at home and still stay healthy and in
that sort of thing and kind of keeping
people engaged about all of this the
library museum museums virtual storytime
public health messages in your programs
and public health messages onto your
network the same and then other
departments helping pushing out that
critical information that was available
that critical information also includes
the resources that they could find this
information in as well which included
their city website next page please
and then in looking at this
retrospectively once there's smoke kind
of clears I mean we're starting to
collect all of this information that we
need to sort it out to figure out how to
use it better we want to improve
education to the community about the
resources available it's still a big
issue that people that know that
information is available increase the
repertoire of online programming and
their interaction but with nineteen
there's force just to think about this
rat sooner rather than later and then
information gained from the briefing of
the event assessment and the input from
the community and working out a plan now
that kind of outlines how to go about
doing that and capturing the information
in a manner that's useful or nice and
then the next following slides are just
representations of the work that we've
done so I'll just kind of go see what
the one of course is the son use item
but just some of the social media next
slide please
and then just more of that same message
and pushed out and you can see the
different social media that was used and
that's the end of my part of the
presentation Thank You Jamie
Oh councillor sword you had something
you wanted to say yes mr. mayor first of
all let me say this whole effort that
the the PIO and and make Jamie has been
doing is quite outstanding I was very
impressed um but as part as you saw in
one of the slides is coming week is
coming up is Earth Day and ever since
President Trump was has been in office
there's been a committee in the city
here to celebrate Earth Day called March
for science and I don't have any any
choice in or not a preference I should
say in what I'm about to say I just want
to get the rest of the council's opinion
on it they have been planning for a a
March for science for I don't know
almost a whole year and oh I got get the
right email here there we go
and they were they were going to
postpone or cancel I should say this
year's celebration but it was suggested
blue and I'm not here darn it
wait a minute I'll get it here yet the
idea is that marches would gather around
the downtown marching route standing
eight feet apart wearing bandanas masks
and holding signs that informed the
people of the seriousness of the
pandemic and the need for science
literacy and so I I told him I would
just present it to the console to see
what you say and I would report back to
them Thank You mayor Thank You
councillor mayor pro-tem thunder them
in there um thank you so much to you
that out and Jamie very impressive thank
you for always being considering
respectful and listening to at least my
remarks and suggestions I very much
appreciate that I do want to just as a
as a food for thought is working and I'm
sure that you are with Natalie green and
all our contracts that we have with the
various nonprofit I'm wondering that
that is a part of that email string you
know what any kind of information that
we have that that's being shared um
specifically um to those groups and
especially to the point about technology
and the digital divide and folks
especially in our impoverished
communities not having access to that
and looking at ways by which we can work
like with entities such as Community
Action Agency dony Ana communities
United with their time banking program
and the various things that they're
trying to do to encourage not only well
social distancing but using the time
banking model to reach out to folks that
find themselves more isolated which in
turn leads to you know it's depression
and anxiety and those things in addition
I want to remind folks that the schools
actually put Rick said would be a doctor
to heal that they would be willing to
put out any of these messages on their
not only their website but their canvas
you know that they have such a huge
following of people that mean that we
may not otherwise engage and so I just
want to remind them of that that
opportunity that they hadn't
and let me see I wrote down a few other
things she I think that's it so I very
much appreciate I'm really looking
forward to the for each that will be
getting through utilities the bills
I'm the PS age to the radio stations and
also you know how we're working with the
county and their bus system to put out
some of these things and just sharing in
the of what and although it's pretty
minimal compared to some of the other
things that probably we do but I'm
wondering what kind of communication
have we had with them and sharing sort
of the messaging oh it she does far as
sharing the messaging with the county
one of the things we did was provide
them all the scripts and are making
available the videos that the council
did if they want to push that out on
their websites and this being some of
the communities hatch mystia Sunland
Park all of those communities have
access to this if they want to use it if
you don't thank you I really appreciate
that I I think here is a real
opportunity to coordinate and
collaborate I I know that you'd a life
I've asked to put sort of these messages
and phone numbers and I'm still going to
ask especially around domestic violence
I think the idea of doing sort of an
interview remotely with the caches
executive director would probably be
very beneficial at this point as we move
forward I know you were specifically
focusing on getting the 30 second
message out and that I really again want
to reiterate the importance of awareness
around domestic violence and and just
as I'm reading through reports and sent
the news you know we're seeing such an
increase with that in child abuse and
again people suffering from anxiety and
depression so I just I just want to make
sure that that hasn't gotten lost and
all of this I think it would be really
important to do some remove interviews
with some of our folks that are trusted
in the community and that could really I
mean it's the difference of saving a
life frankly and so I want to I want to
make sure that I that I say that okay
thank you mayor pro-tem
counselor I baked the student for that
presentation for helping out I I'm glad
you see this information going out to
the public as we move forward I think
it'll be really good to also showcase
how the city has been able to help with
our community too so if we do and I mean
we're gonna get some numbers on some of
the programming that we funded even
around link up you know how many people
have been fed and the numbers are on how
many of our seniors are being fed by the
city those types of numbers I think it's
really good for that transparency safe
to see that the city has been active has
been responsive we've had tons of
employees that have been working
tirelessly every day for our community
and so I think those are some items that
it would be good to be able to showcase
and I'd like to be able to showcase
those to my constituents as well thank
you okay well great presentation you del
and and Jamie thank you for that
information very comprehensive and
really exciting to see all the different
avenues that you're taking so sure man
can Irish respond to councillor sword
we're quick oh sure um I think cancer
cell sorry thanks for bringing that I
would highly encourage people not to do
I think that a lot of folks a lot of
events that people have been signing for
a long time have been postponed or
canceled for good reason I don't know if
you noticed that there were recently
protests in Michigan
that were incredibly irresponsible and
perhaps the content of the signs would
be different but I think the level of
responsibility is still important to
note so I you know it's noticed people
having protests in their cars and their
vehicles perhaps that's an option but I
would highly highly encourage people not
to gather in large groups during this
time Thank You counselor I don't pass
that on okay all right well if there's
nothing further thank you everyone for
your presentations great meeting as
usual looks like we might not have a
meeting next Friday so it looks like
we'll go back to our regular scheduled
meetings on Mondays so unless something
comes up then I then I'll call them
another meeting on Friday but does it
look like at the time we'll get to love
this information that councillors have
asked us and and Cuomo had asked about
and so David yes David my Estes
it's a lot of greatness yes sorry about
that Mir we will have to have a special
meeting next week 14 days for the
emergency Proclamation we'll come to
them in so we need to work on extending
that judgment also staff is working on
bringing forward a resolution for public
comment at these type of zoom meetings
and they will have that to present to
Council for review okay so let's see
then that would be days on the 24th 24th
okay 9:30 okay sounds good yes mayor
Burton I just want to encourage us I
know this is an extra a meeting I've
gotten positive feedback about our
special meetings and the way by which we
responded unto this people
we've been very impressed with the city
and I want to encourage us to continue
to me as as this especially the surge
and the and and the peak I think people
are really looking to this to a way or a
vehicle to get information and I think
it's important it comes through a bit de
su v--'s comments about this idea of
transparency in terms of the funding
that we are giving out how many people
are we feeding and healthy and I think
the things that are really important
that we should use these special
meetings to report it sounds good
okay entertain a motion to adjourn don't
move
Becca what she made by a council Bencomo
second by councillor Vasquez I believe
that we're correct okay it's right mom
all those in favor signify by saying aye
Hey looks like we're adjourn is 12:20
p.m. a memories stay safe have a good
weekend
thank you everybody bye