Is it safe to travel through New Mexico during COVID-19? (La Luz: house, zip code)

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Right, but so-called "border" checkpoints often are located away from the border at the approach to the nearest city (for ex., San Diego) or at stops on main arteries north of the border. Otherwise, why check Las Cruces cars & others with US plates, heading toward AZ?

Las Cruces is pretty close to the border and not far from El Paso. The border patrol can set up check points within 100 miles of the border any place they want.

The reality is lots of drugs and people are smuggled across from Juarez into El Paso. So the border patrol stops all vehicles going east on the I-10 out of El Paso, going north on the I-25 and west going to Arizona. And lots of Americans get paid to bring drugs out of the El Paso area around the country. They like to hire Americans because they are more likely to get waved through the line. Mexican nationals will get the 3rd degree. I have had people who worked for me on homes I used to flip who later got into trouble working as a drug mule. They get paid a few thousand dollars for a few hours of work. The only down side is getting caught.

[Deserterer]

Originally Posted by ABQalex

Please don't travel through New Mexico. It's not forbidden, but it's not desired for people from outside the state to travel through here, especially just to "destress" Be an adult and do that at home, where it's safest to be right now. If you still insist on doing so, at least don't stop while traveling through here.

Right, and what we don't need are people coming from a more heavily infected area (AZ), going to another more heavily infected area (El Paso, TX, and traveling through a less infected area both ways.



I'm already aware of people who came from California during the height of infection there, apparently to camp and recreate and hang out all day in places here that are normally busy. Those place aren't busy now because people, unlike them, are STAYING HOME! I've seen the same people doing this in the same place for weeks.

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by Deserterer

Right, and what we don't need are people coming from a more heavily infected area (AZ), going to another more heavily infected area (El Paso, TX, and traveling through a less infected area both ways.

Actually New Mexico has more cases per thousand than Arizona. And more cases per thousand than El Paso County. The hot spot in New Mexico is the rez.

And here in Arizona I see lots of New Mexico plates. So who should be telling who to stay home?

[ABQalex]

Originally Posted by Oklazona Bound

Actually New Mexico has more cases per thousand than Arizona. And more cases per thousand than El Paso County. The hot spot in New Mexico is the rez.

And here in Arizona I see lots of New Mexico plates. So who should be telling who to stay home?

People should stay where they are, period. This thread wasn't started by a New Mexican in the Arizona and Texas forums wanting to travel to Arizona and Texas just to "destress" during a national health crisis and dangerous pandemic. We've all been instructed to stay home and told that the safest place to be is in our homes. How hard is that advice to follow exactly??

Half of New Mexico's cases are indeed on the reservations and Indian pueblos, unfortunately. McKinley County, the heart of Indian Country, has almost the same amount of cases as Bernalillo County, despite being 9.5 times smaller in population.

McKinley County - 71,367 population - 639 cases - 8.95 cases per 1,000 people

Bernalillo County - 679,121 population - 651 cases - .95 cases per 1,000 people

A map showing number of cases by counties across the state using the latest numbers released today by our state:



Hidalgo County at the entrance to New Mexico from Arizona on I-10 still thankfully has no cases. Southern New Mexico overall has few cases compared to the north central and northwest portions of the state, which is why it should be left alone by people wanting to travel through just to "destress" And traveling through isn't so innocent, lots of things can happen to cause a person planning just to 'travel through' somewhere to actually have to stop there.

People need to take this seriously no matter where they are, hospot or not. Every place once wasn't a hotspot.

[Deserterer]

Originally Posted by Oklazona Bound

Actually New Mexico has more cases per thousand than Arizona. And more cases per thousand than El Paso County. The hot spot in New Mexico is the rez.

And here in Arizona I see lots of New Mexico plates. So who should be telling who to stay home?

The (known) infection rate of Maricopa County (if that's where the OP is coming from) is 20% higher than Dona Ana County, and many times higher than the other counties the OP would be passing through on I-10. The (known) infection rate of El Paso County TX is 2.3 higher than Dona Ana County and the other counties the OP would be passing through on I-10.

[aries63]

Originally Posted by Oklazona Bound

Actually New Mexico has more cases per thousand than Arizona. And more cases per thousand than El Paso County. The hot spot in New Mexico is the rez.

And here in Arizona I see lots of New Mexico plates. So who should be telling who to stay home?

New Mexico is testing far more aggressively than Arizona. NM has performed over 24,000 tests per million population, while AZ has tested just under 9,000 per million as of yesterday. You're just not catching as many positives in AZ.

Currently NM ranks 7th in testing per capita, and AZ ranks 48th.

[ABQalex]

An actual comparison of cases and rates between Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, using the latest numbers available for each state:

Arizona - 7,278,717 population - 6,280 cases - .86 cases per 1,000 people

https://ktar.com/story/3095911/arizo...l-reaches-273/

New Mexico - 2,096,829 population - 2,521 cases - 1.20 cases per 1,000 people

https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavi...in-new-mexico/

Texas - 28,995,881 population - 23,773 cases - .82 cases per 1,000 people

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/04...updates-texas/

New Mexico does indeed have the worst rate among these three states. As we've already seen, much of that is because of the unfortunate outbreaks on the Indian reservations and pueblos. The Navajo Nation alone has over 1,500 cases, spanning across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. One third of New Mexico's counties in the north central and northwestern areas of the state account for 2,288 out of 2,521 cases in the state. This area encompasses Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Taos and Indian Country.


Now, let's look at infection rates across the counties along I-10 from Phoenix to El Paso:

Maricopa County - 4,485,414 population - 3,234 cases - .72 cases per 1,000 people

Pinal County - 462,789 population - 332 cases - .72 cases per 1,000 people

Pima County - 1,047,279 population - 1,090 cases - 1.04 cases per 1,000 people

Cochise County - 125,922 population - 36 cases - .29 cases per 1,000 people

Hidalgo County - 4,198 population - 0 cases - 0 cases per 1,000 people

Grant County - 26,998 population - 14 cases - .52 cases per 1,000 people

Luna County - 23,709 population - 3 cases - .13 cases per 1,000 people

Doña Ana County - 218,195 population - 94 cases .43 cases per 1,000 people

El Paso County - 839,238 population - 706 cases - .84 cases per 1,000 people


The New Mexico portion of I-10 between Arizona and Texas does indeed have the counties with the lowest rates of infection. Only Cochise County in Arizona is lower than some New Mexico counties along the route. Tucson has the worst rate of infection, followed by El Paso and then Phoenix. Las Cruces is thankfully pretty low in terms of infection rate.

[Deserterer]

I accidentally used El Paso County CO numbers for my calculations, lol, all of which were very grossly rounded, but didn't come out all that different anyway. Twice the rate instead of 2.3

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by aries63

The OP is asking about Covid-19 related restrictions. While people are encouraged not to engage in non-essential travel out of state, I don't think they can stop you. Texas was turning around a lot of people from Louisiana at their border, but I'm not aware of issues between New Mexico and TX, or NM and AZ. Since March 18 the state of New Mexico is asking anyone coming into the state from outside to self isolate for 14 days. You should find out from Arizona what their restrictions are when you want to go home. Honestly, IMO you should find somewhere in AZ to "destress" and not place an extra burden on State Police and border checkpoints.

From the AZ DHS website:

Under the Executive Order, Arizonans shall limit their time away from their place of residence or property, except:

To conduct or participate in essential activities, and/or;
For employment, to volunteer or participate in essential functions; or
To utilize any services or products provided by essential business services;
And for employment if as a sole proprietor or family owned business, work is conducted in a separate office space from your home and the business is not open to serve the public.

I lived in Albuquerque for a few months back in the fall but moved back to AZ for a software job. Even in the fall (prior to covid-19 pandemic) the job market wasn't very good in NM for software. Reluctantly, I had to move to either Denver or Phoenix.

It's getting hot here in Phoenix. I wish I could hike Sandia Peak. But as I understand it the restrictions are against it. I miss that great La Luz Trail.

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by Deserterer

The (known) infection rate of Maricopa County (if that's where the OP is coming from) is 20% higher than Dona Ana County, and many times higher than the other counties the OP would be passing through on I-10. The (known) infection rate of El Paso County TX is 2.3 higher than Dona Ana County and the other counties the OP would be passing through on I-10.

You called Arizona a more heavily infected area. I pointed out that you were incorrect. Now you are talking county vs. county. Which is meaningless. Unless you are traveling all around your county and interacting with people all over. For myself when I go outside I stick to my zip code. I buy supplies at my local store and go home. And if you look at zip code maps of cases they vary widely. Maricopa county has several reservations located there. If you look at the zip code maps you can see the effect they have on the numbers.



So explain to me how someone passing through Southern New Mexico is spreading the virus? Unless you stop to get gas and go inside the gas station or get something to eat, or interacting with others outside, you are zero risk.