I was numb after looking at Wikipedia’s coronavirus statistics for Rio Arriba county tonight. We had jumped from 37 reported positive tests on Tuesday, May 26, to 43 with our first death. That was six new cases in three days. It meant 15 active cases in the past 14 days, more than at any other time.
My first reaction was one of futility. We had managed to get through the beginning of the pandemic relatively unscathed. That may have been more because outsiders weren’t traveling through the town than our own proactive actions.
But now that the governor is beginning to let businesses open, all the dislocations suffered by our local businesses are for naught. We’re worse off than we’ve ever been.
Then I got angry about the lack of information. The state is only sending information to whatever source Wikipedia uses a few times a week. No more daily updates. There hasn’t been a comment posted on Rio Arriba county since May 2.
We have a weekly newspaper, which means anything it reports if out-of-date when it appears.
Rio Arriba is a large county. It’s larger than the states of Rhode Island, Delaware, and Connecticut. What does six new positive tests mean when they are spread over 5,896 square miles?
They may not even be in the Española valley. They could be in Abiquiu or Chimayó, which are more likely to attract outside visitors. Or, they could be up near Chama and Dulce, which are more than 80 miles away and closer to the Navajo outbreak.
Sometimes, just to get some perspective, I look at the statistics for my home county in Michigan. It has reported 366 cases and 22 deaths. When that number is divided by the county population, it means there have been 268 reports for 100,000 people. In Rio Arriba county, that number is now 108 per 100,000.
I have the same problems with getting information on my home county as Rio Arriba. The only daily newspaper now is owned by a chain, and keeps its website closed to non-subscribers. Like Rio Arriba county, it has no television stations, and never has.
It’s geographic size is much smaller, but it has three good sized towns or cities, plus several villages larger than anything in this county. When I tried to find out if any of the illnesses were in my hometown, I could find nothing online. I have no idea if anyone I know was affected or threatened.
Some in government think the less information it provides, the better off it is because it assumes we can’t be mad about what we don’t know. It doesn’t understand it’s the unknown that is so dangerous.
If I knew more about where the cases were in Rio Arriba county were I could act to avoid those areas. Since I don’t know, I have no choice but to be even more wary about going into town.
Sources:
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 29 May 2020. Wikipedia also was the source for other statistical information.
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