With winter break coming up, many New Mexicans are looking forward to traveling for the holidays, but that may not be possible this year. As of Monday, December 7, there are over 109,947 reported Coronavirus cases in New Mexico. This includes over 1,872 new cases and 7 new deaths on Monday alone, according to KOB. SantaFeNewMexican reports that this is causing hospitals to overfill and medical officials are highly recommending that people follow proper COVID-19 guidelines. This includes wearing a mask in public, social distancing, and staying home whenever possible.
With many Americans having already been traveling this past November for Thanksgiving, millions of people are planning on traveling for Christmas. Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, is still advising people not to travel saying, “The best thing for Americans to do in the upcoming holiday season is to stay at home and not travel’.’ Walke also said, “Cases are rising. Hospitalizations are increasing, Deaths are increasing. We need to try to bend the curve, stop this exponential increase.”
For the Americans who are still insisting on traveling for the upcoming holidays, the CDC has said the best thing to do is to get tested immediately before and after your travel, and if you’re unable to do so they recommend limiting nonessential activities for 10 days after travel.