SENATE REPUBLICANS NEWS

This week, the Senate Republican Caucus sent a letter to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asking her to rework the restrictions and calculation for the COVID-19 “Red to Green Framework.” The letter came in response to the most recent framework update in which one county was downgraded from yellow to red, and four counties fell short of the yellow level by 0.33 percent or less.

“New Mexico restaurants and small businesses are facing so many challenges and the current framework has unfortunately added some uncertainty with no pathway to full reopening,” said Senator Cliff Pirtle (District 32-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero). “At the highest level – the green level – the maximum capacity for most businesses is capped at 50 percent. We need a framework that offers more hope and progress than 50 percent closed.”

In the letter, Senate Republicans asked the Governor to make the following revisions to the framework:

·       Replace the Red Level Restrictions with the Yellow Level Restrictions.

·       Replace the Yellow Level Restrictions with the Green Level Restrictions.

·       Revise the Green Level to reflect full reopening without restrictions.

·       Round down test positivity rates to the nearest whole number.

·       Provide a grace period for any restaurant in a county downgraded from one level to a lower level.

“Our total cases and hospitalizations are down significantly and we are no longer seeing drastic spikes in states that have reopened,” added Republican Leader, Senator Greg Baca (District 29-Bernalillo and Valencia). “These reasonable changes will offer some greater confidence to our restaurants and other businesses, and send a clear message that our state is on the road to reopening. We hope the Governor and health officials will seriously consider our recommendations.”