The consequences of isolation are setting in. Two people contacted me in the past few days for no particular reason, other than the need to communicate.
I had sent an email to the one friend a few weeks ago asking if her family was OK. One member was in a nursing home, and the one in Seattle was in the news. I got a short note back saying all was well.
This time, the person gave more details. Both her children live in states with more cases of Coronavirus than New Mexico, and both had been laid off. She said she got nervous when she didn’t hear from them every day at the expected time.
The other was a neighbor who called to tell me the governor had closed the gun shops, and wanted to warn me against a possible break in.
The governor’s order to close non-essential businesses had been issued on March 23, and this was a week later. Nothing had happened yet. As anyone knows who reads the local newspaper, guns are more likely to be used in arguments than in robberies in Española.
But this is not a rationale time. Conspiracy theories abound in an environment of unknown dangers. Everyone wants to do whatever is necessary to remain safe. For some that means toilet paper, and for others guns.
Thursday, April 02, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Monday, March 30
Amazon is now admitting it is giving priority to its Prime customers. It said the reason is there’s so much demand now that people can’t shop in places that have severe Coronavirus breakouts. They certainly have the statistics to support that policy
However, its been obvious to this non-Prime customer that they have been implementing a program of not competing with themselves. For items that are listed as Prime, but available to others, it seemed to ship them just in time to meet the last promised delivery date. For other items, shipping was sooner.
I ordered two items on March 20, with promised dates of April 1. Amazon shipped the one today, but still hasn’t shipped the other. It always has delays for the second, but usually no more than a week.
Customers soon find ways to work around barriers like this. I eat brown rice and lentils because I’m allergic to penicillin. There’s been so much of the antibiotic in the animal feed supply, that, over time, I became so sensitive I broke out if traces of penicillin remained. I was forced to change from meat to legumes and rice for my protein years ago.
Rice is one of those items that’s been snapped up by panic buyers. Jack Shafer noted the first things people buy are the perishable ones like milk, as well as toilet paper. He suggested they’re provide an "illusion of comfort in an uncertain time."
These, along with water, also are the items that appear in the news during hurricanes. There is no uniform disaster shopping list, and few are like us in northern New Mexico who have had to think about what to do in case a forest fire shuts down everything. People in other parts of the country buy what they’ve always heard is necessary.
Shafer observed that, once people have enough toilet paper, they begin to think more strategically, and buy dry goods like beans and pasta. When I was in the local market on March 13 a man was putting up signs saying it was limiting purchases of things like water, paper goods, cleaning supplies, and lentils.
Few seem to paying attention to the inventories suggested by survivalists. These tend to be canned goods that have no expiration date, and can be eaten without heating them or adding water. They’re better, of course, if cooked and diluted, but in emergencies they serve.
Anyway, because the local stores don’t usually carry organic rice and the ones in Santa Fé were unreliable, I began ordering bulk packages several years ago. I’d learned the shipping times, so I knew when to order.
Today, I decided I should order much earlier. I discovered organic brown rice simply was not available on Amazon. My usual brand essentially had been delisted. One alternative was available, but the vendor would only ship UPS.
I finally found Amazon still offered white rice. It isn’t as nutritious as brown rice, but it will suffice. One consequence of the shortages is peoples’ diets are going to suffer, at least temporarily.
The resupply of milk and eggs shouldn’t be a problem, once middlemen adapt. The hens and cows are not under any shelter-in-place order, and continue to produce.
Paper and chemical goods may have more problems. One ultimately depends on men cutting pulpwood trees, the other on chemical companies. I don’t know much about the restraints on the supply of raw materials for either. Perhaps, lumber companies can divert wood intended for construction, which is now delayed, to the less profitable pulp wood market. Prices, of course, may increase.
Foods that depend on agricultural cycles are a different problem. New supplies become available once a year. We know vegetable producers have found ways to grow produce for gourmet markets all year, but it’s not easy to change the way a field of corn matures.
Except before Easter, people here don’t eat many lentils. Many elsewhere probably don’t know how to cook them or rice. I suspect that some of the packages that were purchased will never be eaten, but will serve as emblems of security on pantry shelves.
As an aside, Amazon seems to have started its non-compete program in January. They seem to have stopped listing books that sell for less than the ones they offer. This was especially true with older books that should be free from on-line archives but, in fact, are limited to institutional members. That privilege is not available to non-students at the local college; if one pays for library rights, that only covers books in the library. At the same time these restrictions by online archives went into place, reprint companies began offering copies of those subsidized digital versions at around $25.00.
There are other book sellers on the internet, and I’ve found that’s where the vendors are going who have original copies of the restricted books, or who offer the reprints for less money. I’d say I used them for most of my purchases this year.
Sources:
Jay Greene. "Prime Members First: Amazon Is Ranking Customers and Ramping up Hiring To Address Coronavirus Demand." Washington Post website. 24 March 2020.
Jack Shafer. "Stop Hating on the Hoarders." Politico website. 26 March 2020.
Journal of a Plague Year, Saturday, March 28
My bank sent me an email telling me it was further shortening its branch hours. It already had sent one that said the branch lobbies were closed, and only the drive-through windows would be open. The rationale was:
"to promote social distancing requirements and help support the health of our associates, our clients and our communities."
The reason, at least here in New Mexico, was that the bank was already losing business before the pandemic, and this provided a convenient cover for reducing services.
One of the most important consequences of the economic problems of 2008 was Española lost its local bank. Whatever one might think about their owners, local banks are more likely to loan to local businesses because their appraisers know the community. They also may be a bit more tolerant of late payments because they realize they gain nothing when businesses close.
Outside bank owners have no such provincial interests. They only care about revenue.
I’ve noticed in the past few years, fewer people are opening businesses and they’re failing sooner. I don’t know if this is a consequence of the market, or if the banks are providing money to fewer people for shorter periods of time. It may be both.
Anyway, I changed to the local bank in Santa Fé. My accountant tells me they were in even more serious trouble than our local bank in 2008. I believe he has access to gossip I don’t and so I take his word, though I won’t quote him directly.
The bank changed hands last year. As part of the transfer, the Santa Fé bank sold all its mortgages. One of the reasons people used it, despite problems, was it never sold its loans.
I know the one bank had poor data processing systems, and it appears the new ones were even worse. I didn’t get two of the required reports I needed to submit my taxes. The new bank’s system didn’t use by PO box. It saw a physical address and combined it with the county to send the form to the town of Rio Arriba, New Mexico.
The other problem was worse. It had deducted taxes from my mandatory IRA withdrawal, but had not reported that money to the IRS. That took a day to straighten out since the bank had to file a correction with the federal government.
Bad word of mouth is deadly for businesses. My accountant told me that, of his customers, I was one of the few that hadn’t changed banks. My massage therapist repeated more horror stories he had heard.
When I went to my usual branch to get the missing tax papers, few cars were in the parking lot and almost no one entered the lobby. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bank doesn’t use the coronavirus to close some branches, and permanently eliminate those jobs that temporarily are suspended.
"to promote social distancing requirements and help support the health of our associates, our clients and our communities."
The reason, at least here in New Mexico, was that the bank was already losing business before the pandemic, and this provided a convenient cover for reducing services.
One of the most important consequences of the economic problems of 2008 was Española lost its local bank. Whatever one might think about their owners, local banks are more likely to loan to local businesses because their appraisers know the community. They also may be a bit more tolerant of late payments because they realize they gain nothing when businesses close.
Outside bank owners have no such provincial interests. They only care about revenue.
I’ve noticed in the past few years, fewer people are opening businesses and they’re failing sooner. I don’t know if this is a consequence of the market, or if the banks are providing money to fewer people for shorter periods of time. It may be both.
Anyway, I changed to the local bank in Santa Fé. My accountant tells me they were in even more serious trouble than our local bank in 2008. I believe he has access to gossip I don’t and so I take his word, though I won’t quote him directly.
The bank changed hands last year. As part of the transfer, the Santa Fé bank sold all its mortgages. One of the reasons people used it, despite problems, was it never sold its loans.
I know the one bank had poor data processing systems, and it appears the new ones were even worse. I didn’t get two of the required reports I needed to submit my taxes. The new bank’s system didn’t use by PO box. It saw a physical address and combined it with the county to send the form to the town of Rio Arriba, New Mexico.
The other problem was worse. It had deducted taxes from my mandatory IRA withdrawal, but had not reported that money to the IRS. That took a day to straighten out since the bank had to file a correction with the federal government.
Bad word of mouth is deadly for businesses. My accountant told me that, of his customers, I was one of the few that hadn’t changed banks. My massage therapist repeated more horror stories he had heard.
When I went to my usual branch to get the missing tax papers, few cars were in the parking lot and almost no one entered the lobby. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bank doesn’t use the coronavirus to close some branches, and permanently eliminate those jobs that temporarily are suspended.
Journal of a Plague Year, Friday, March 27
This was the first Friday I went into town, since I decided to make that the one day I ventured out. I’d ordered some plants in January, and nurseries tend to ship early in the week so their packages won’t spend a weekend in transit. They never let me know when they ship, but do say they start shipping to warmer locations on March 15. Some think that includes us.
My first stop was a gas station, where there were the usual number of vehicles for midday in the middle of the week. It probably was down from the normal traffic on a Friday when tourists are driving through.
Since I’d read the virus could be picked up from hard surfaces, I wore the gallon baggies when I handled the pump. I didn’t notice anyone else wearing masks or gloves. They may have felt safe since they’d just left their vehicles and no one was around them.
My other stop was the post office. Whoever sends out those weekly fliers hadn’t stopped. My mail box was clotted with them. My one package was in a locker. Again, I wore the baggies to handle the keys and open the boxes. There were few others in the box area, and none were taking precautions.
I was out during the noon hour. Traffic was lighter than it had been, and all the favorite restaurants were open, with a few cars parked outside. They may have been employees or people picking up orders. The only one that was visibly active was a drive-in.
These places are so woven into the fabric of the community, they will revive as soon as they open. That, of course, assumes, they aren’t too heavily in debt and can survive having lower revenues for a while. It also assumes the owners and cooks don’t get sick or retire.
It took a while for traffic on the road by my house to stop. In the first days of the quarantine, people still went out. Like me they probably were buying the necessities needed to hunker down.
For a few days, the sound of weed eaters seemed nearly constant. Men had the leisure to work on their yards. Years ago a woman told me that, when she sprained her ankle and had to spend days on her sofa, all she noticed was the dirt of the windows. The men were home in daylight and could see the accumulated weeds, and may have needed an excuse to get out of the house.
Now that noise has stopped, and very few cars go by. The quarantine has begun in earnest.
My first stop was a gas station, where there were the usual number of vehicles for midday in the middle of the week. It probably was down from the normal traffic on a Friday when tourists are driving through.
Since I’d read the virus could be picked up from hard surfaces, I wore the gallon baggies when I handled the pump. I didn’t notice anyone else wearing masks or gloves. They may have felt safe since they’d just left their vehicles and no one was around them.
My other stop was the post office. Whoever sends out those weekly fliers hadn’t stopped. My mail box was clotted with them. My one package was in a locker. Again, I wore the baggies to handle the keys and open the boxes. There were few others in the box area, and none were taking precautions.
I was out during the noon hour. Traffic was lighter than it had been, and all the favorite restaurants were open, with a few cars parked outside. They may have been employees or people picking up orders. The only one that was visibly active was a drive-in.
These places are so woven into the fabric of the community, they will revive as soon as they open. That, of course, assumes, they aren’t too heavily in debt and can survive having lower revenues for a while. It also assumes the owners and cooks don’t get sick or retire.
It took a while for traffic on the road by my house to stop. In the first days of the quarantine, people still went out. Like me they probably were buying the necessities needed to hunker down.
For a few days, the sound of weed eaters seemed nearly constant. Men had the leisure to work on their yards. Years ago a woman told me that, when she sprained her ankle and had to spend days on her sofa, all she noticed was the dirt of the windows. The men were home in daylight and could see the accumulated weeds, and may have needed an excuse to get out of the house.
Now that noise has stopped, and very few cars go by. The quarantine has begun in earnest.
Journal of a Plague Year, Thursday, March 26
Stay-at-orders have not stopped the scam marketers. It’s only changed the spiel.
I get calls from a woman who begins by asking if I’m satisfied with my medical insurance. Or words to that effect. I hang up as soon as the recording begins.
I got an email today from today from a man who claimed:
"As the pandemic hits the world, the online market and social media is flooded. more importantly, amazon is hiring 100,000 workers to help with book orders and purchases worldwide. This means a lot to authors like you, and we'd like to propose an online publicity campaign for your book."
Amazon is hiring, but not to process books. In fact, it made clear on March 17 that it was not bringing any non-essential items into its warehouses. [1] It is either ignorance or an extreme form of self-centeredness that would lead anyone to believe Amazon was doing something for his or her special benefit.
I have gotten some emails from book sellers who hope enforced leisure will lead me to read more. I can’t complain about them. They are among the small businesses who hope they can survive the enforced closure of their stores. Sending out emails to all their past customers keeps them occupied, is free, and might just generate some sales.
I also got an email from a company that specializes in jigsaw puzzles. It, too, thought the requirement that people stay inside was a business opportunity. Or, as it put it, its products were "perfect to make memories that will last a lifetime even during this rough time."
It couldn’t know when it sent the email on March 18 that that would be the day the pandemic became obvious. The number of Coronavirus cases in New York City jumped from 923 to 2,009. [2]
For many, doing puzzles or playing board games is not a family tradition. Mother Jones reported instead domestic violence has increased in places like Seattle and New York City. [3]
In 2017, Rio Arriba County reported 7 domestic violence incidents per 1,000 people, or 289 for a total population of 40,040. Those reports were spread fairly evenly between city, county, and state police, and included some from Santa Clara. [4]
Statistics are always suspect. Nationally, experts have found individuals may or may not trust the police enough to call for help, and police may or may not write a report for every incident. [5]
Given that caveat, 36% of the cases in Rio Arriba county involved alcohol or drugs, and 25% involved a weapon. [6]
Sources:
1. Garett Sloane. Amazon Tells Suppliers It Won't Accept New Shipments of Nonessential Items until April 5. Ad Age website. 17 March 2020.
2. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New York City."
3. Madison Pauly and Julia Lurie. "Domestic Violence 911 Calls Are Increasing. Coronavirus Is Likely to Blame." Mother Jones website. March 2020.
4. Betty Caponera. "Incidence and Nature of Domestic ViolenceIn New Mexico XVI: An Analysis of 2016 Data From The New Mexico Interpersonal Violence Data Central Repository." New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence website. The Española Police Department received 89 calls, the Rio Arriba County sheriff 76, the state police post 89, and Santa Clara police 34.
5. Pauly.
6. Caponera.
I get calls from a woman who begins by asking if I’m satisfied with my medical insurance. Or words to that effect. I hang up as soon as the recording begins.
I got an email today from today from a man who claimed:
"As the pandemic hits the world, the online market and social media is flooded. more importantly, amazon is hiring 100,000 workers to help with book orders and purchases worldwide. This means a lot to authors like you, and we'd like to propose an online publicity campaign for your book."
Amazon is hiring, but not to process books. In fact, it made clear on March 17 that it was not bringing any non-essential items into its warehouses. [1] It is either ignorance or an extreme form of self-centeredness that would lead anyone to believe Amazon was doing something for his or her special benefit.
I have gotten some emails from book sellers who hope enforced leisure will lead me to read more. I can’t complain about them. They are among the small businesses who hope they can survive the enforced closure of their stores. Sending out emails to all their past customers keeps them occupied, is free, and might just generate some sales.
I also got an email from a company that specializes in jigsaw puzzles. It, too, thought the requirement that people stay inside was a business opportunity. Or, as it put it, its products were "perfect to make memories that will last a lifetime even during this rough time."
It couldn’t know when it sent the email on March 18 that that would be the day the pandemic became obvious. The number of Coronavirus cases in New York City jumped from 923 to 2,009. [2]
For many, doing puzzles or playing board games is not a family tradition. Mother Jones reported instead domestic violence has increased in places like Seattle and New York City. [3]
In 2017, Rio Arriba County reported 7 domestic violence incidents per 1,000 people, or 289 for a total population of 40,040. Those reports were spread fairly evenly between city, county, and state police, and included some from Santa Clara. [4]
Statistics are always suspect. Nationally, experts have found individuals may or may not trust the police enough to call for help, and police may or may not write a report for every incident. [5]
Given that caveat, 36% of the cases in Rio Arriba county involved alcohol or drugs, and 25% involved a weapon. [6]
Sources:
1. Garett Sloane. Amazon Tells Suppliers It Won't Accept New Shipments of Nonessential Items until April 5. Ad Age website. 17 March 2020.
2. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New York City."
3. Madison Pauly and Julia Lurie. "Domestic Violence 911 Calls Are Increasing. Coronavirus Is Likely to Blame." Mother Jones website. March 2020.
4. Betty Caponera. "Incidence and Nature of Domestic ViolenceIn New Mexico XVI: An Analysis of 2016 Data From The New Mexico Interpersonal Violence Data Central Repository." New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence website. The Española Police Department received 89 calls, the Rio Arriba County sheriff 76, the state police post 89, and Santa Clara police 34.
5. Pauly.
6. Caponera.
Journal of a Plague Year, Wednesday, March 25 (continued)
Knowing the age and gender of those sickened by Coronavirus makes it easy to relate New Mexico to national trends. It is not enough information to understand the status of the virus in Rio Arriba county. I understand everyone’s right to privacy, but it would be useful to know something about ethnicity and employment.
For instance, the virus has settled into the Navajo Nation. It’s believed it was introduced at an "an evangelical church rally" on March 7. The first confirmed case of Coronavirus was reported ten days later, March 17. [1]
As of March 30, the number had risen to 128 Navajo, of whom 24 were living in the New Mexico counties of San Juan (15), McKinley (8), and Cibola (1). [2]
I don’t know if these cases have been report to the state of New Mexico. There is no legal requirement for sovereign nations to do so. However, the numbers are close to the county statistics reported by Wikipedia. [3]
No uniformity exists between Native American groups. Some are highly suspicious of their state governments; other are more cooperative. Some have their own medical systems, but others are dependent on the Indian Health Service. The Trump administrations distrusts it, and the response by IHS has been hampered by lack of funding and bureaucratic in-fighting. [4]
Both Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh closed their casinos the day the state governor limited public gatherings to ten people, and ordered non-Native casinos to close. That was March 18. [5]
On March 23, the state governor ordered all non-essential businesses to close and people to stay home. [6] The governor of Ohkay Owingeh followed suit. Santa Clara’s governor said he had asked people to stay home two weeks before that, around March 10. [7]
It’s easy to say the Navajo live on the other side of the Continental Divide. No decent roads connect it with Española. Our isolation, or their’s, protects us.
However, the ways it spread among the Navajo reminds us that, no matter how antagonistic different cultural groups have been to each other, the cultures of the southwest share traits that separate them from other parts of the country.
For instance, individuals who attended the ceremony in Chilchinbeto, Arizona, "greeted one another with handshakes and hugs." [8] People in the town in Michigan where I was raised did not touch one another. It was appropriate to say hello when one met friends, but nothing more.
Other traits are nearly universal. One woman told a reporter her elderly mother "still wanted to go to the local Burger King for coffee, where she and her friends gather many weekdays." [9] Such informal gathers are common wherever fast food restaurants tolerate people who linger at tables. I remember hearings about them in Dairy Queens in west Texas in the 1980s.
Sources:
1. Kurtis Lee. "No Running Water. No Electricity. On Navajo Nation, Coronavirus Creates Worry and Confusion as Cases Surge." Los Angeles Times website. 29 March 2020.
2. Justine Lopez. "128 Confirmed Positive COVID-19 Cases on Navajo Nation." KOB-TV website, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 29 March 2020; last updated 30 March 2020.
3. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico."
4. Adam Cancryn. "Where Coronavirus Could Find a Refuge: Native American Reservations." Politico website. 28 March 2020. IHS counted 110 cases of Coronavirus nationally, while the number of Navajo was greater than that. The Navajo has a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control that’s allowed them to draw supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile. New Mexico’s governor took up their case on 30 March, since Arizona is not being proactive toward the epidemic. [10]
5. Austin Fisher. "Casinos Closed, Restaurants and Stores Restricted to Stem Spread of Virus." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
6. Wikipedia.
7. Molly Montgomery. "Northern Governments Brace for Economic Fallout of Pandemic." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 26 March 2020.
8. Lee.
9. Lee.
10. Katherine Faulders and Olivia Rubin. "New Mexico’s Governor Warns Tribal Nations Could Be ‘Wiped Out’ by Coronavirus." ABC-TV website. 30 March 2020.
For instance, the virus has settled into the Navajo Nation. It’s believed it was introduced at an "an evangelical church rally" on March 7. The first confirmed case of Coronavirus was reported ten days later, March 17. [1]
As of March 30, the number had risen to 128 Navajo, of whom 24 were living in the New Mexico counties of San Juan (15), McKinley (8), and Cibola (1). [2]
I don’t know if these cases have been report to the state of New Mexico. There is no legal requirement for sovereign nations to do so. However, the numbers are close to the county statistics reported by Wikipedia. [3]
No uniformity exists between Native American groups. Some are highly suspicious of their state governments; other are more cooperative. Some have their own medical systems, but others are dependent on the Indian Health Service. The Trump administrations distrusts it, and the response by IHS has been hampered by lack of funding and bureaucratic in-fighting. [4]
Both Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh closed their casinos the day the state governor limited public gatherings to ten people, and ordered non-Native casinos to close. That was March 18. [5]
On March 23, the state governor ordered all non-essential businesses to close and people to stay home. [6] The governor of Ohkay Owingeh followed suit. Santa Clara’s governor said he had asked people to stay home two weeks before that, around March 10. [7]
It’s easy to say the Navajo live on the other side of the Continental Divide. No decent roads connect it with Española. Our isolation, or their’s, protects us.
However, the ways it spread among the Navajo reminds us that, no matter how antagonistic different cultural groups have been to each other, the cultures of the southwest share traits that separate them from other parts of the country.
For instance, individuals who attended the ceremony in Chilchinbeto, Arizona, "greeted one another with handshakes and hugs." [8] People in the town in Michigan where I was raised did not touch one another. It was appropriate to say hello when one met friends, but nothing more.
Other traits are nearly universal. One woman told a reporter her elderly mother "still wanted to go to the local Burger King for coffee, where she and her friends gather many weekdays." [9] Such informal gathers are common wherever fast food restaurants tolerate people who linger at tables. I remember hearings about them in Dairy Queens in west Texas in the 1980s.
Sources:
1. Kurtis Lee. "No Running Water. No Electricity. On Navajo Nation, Coronavirus Creates Worry and Confusion as Cases Surge." Los Angeles Times website. 29 March 2020.
2. Justine Lopez. "128 Confirmed Positive COVID-19 Cases on Navajo Nation." KOB-TV website, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 29 March 2020; last updated 30 March 2020.
3. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico."
4. Adam Cancryn. "Where Coronavirus Could Find a Refuge: Native American Reservations." Politico website. 28 March 2020. IHS counted 110 cases of Coronavirus nationally, while the number of Navajo was greater than that. The Navajo has a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control that’s allowed them to draw supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile. New Mexico’s governor took up their case on 30 March, since Arizona is not being proactive toward the epidemic. [10]
5. Austin Fisher. "Casinos Closed, Restaurants and Stores Restricted to Stem Spread of Virus." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
6. Wikipedia.
7. Molly Montgomery. "Northern Governments Brace for Economic Fallout of Pandemic." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 26 March 2020.
8. Lee.
9. Lee.
10. Katherine Faulders and Olivia Rubin. "New Mexico’s Governor Warns Tribal Nations Could Be ‘Wiped Out’ by Coronavirus." ABC-TV website. 30 March 2020.
Journal of a Plague Year, Wednesday, March 25
The first cases of Coronavirus were reported in Rio Arriba County. All the local paper could discover is one was travel related and one was being investigated. [1] The earliest date the virus could have been contacted was March 3.
I’m not sure I believe the statistics. There are so many reasons people might not be tested.
First there are the official hurdles. Testing didn’t begin in Espanola until March 19, and then the hospital only had 45 test kits. While four days was the usual delay in results in other parts of the country, laboratories in New Mexico were only processing "a few hundred specimens each day." [2]
Because resources are so limited, the local hospital is only testing people who show serious symptoms. Before an individual is tested, he or she must call the hospital and answer questions to establish a claim.
Beyond the official barriers, there are economic ones. In New York City, which currently has the greatest number of Coronavirus cases in the country, the poverty rate was 17.3% last October, [3] while the rate in Rio Arriba County was 26.4%. [4] The city’s uninsured rate was 7% last July. [5] In Rio Arriba County, it was 13.8%. [6]
The New York statistics are deceptive. The city has some very wealthy neighborhoods. The uninsured rate among non-citizens was 22%, and probably much higher among those who weren’t legal residents. [7] This may be comparable to Rio Arriba County.
Rumors are rife that while the testing is free, the treatment is not. Several weeks in a hospital’s intensive care unit is not cheap. People who are not insured may not bother, because they can’t afford to be sick.
Variations in insurance plans are another impediment. A third of the insured have their coverage through their employers, which may be the national laboratory or a local government. Another 13.8% are on Medicare. It has copays, unless one buys a supplemental insurance policy. Nearly 30% are on Medicaid or VA plans. [8]
The remaining 9.52% of the insured are on other private plans, which are notorious for high co-pays. [9]
Contact with someone in Santa Fé or Albuquerque who was ill knows no economic boundaries. Families are spread along the length of the Río Grande, and travel is not restricted to the upper classes. The local post office processes passports.
One woman I with whom talked a while back said her daughter was scheduled to go on a cruise, and wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to lose her money. The cost of a cruise could represent some effort at savings, and losing it without reward would be a serious blow.
People who work as maids for the wealthy or hotels in Santa Fé may include people who are not citizens. The fear of the Immigration Service is not limited to those without papers. Anyone who speaks Spanish may be suspect, and that fear inhibits people’s willingness to risk answering questions to get tested.
The greatest barrier is probably cultural. Many people do not trust western medicine, and rely on chiropractors and herbal medicines.
The county is telling people, if they aren’t sick enough to be tested, to "provide self-care until you are either fever-free for 24 hours without medications or until you need emergency care." [10]
Unfortunately, this reinforces people’s tendencies to avoid doctors until things are so serious they must go to the emergency room.
Sources:
1. Molly Montgomery. "Two People in Rio Arriba Test Positive for Coronavirus." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 25 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
2. Molly Montgomery. "Coronavirus Testing Underway in Rio Arriba." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
3. "Mayor de Blasio Announces New York City Poverty Rate Hits Historic Low." New York City, Office of the Mayor website. 1 October 2019.
4. "Rio Arriba County, NM." Data USA website. Viewed 28 March 2020.
5. "Are NYC Health + Hospitals Facilities Located in Community Districts With the Highest Shares of Uninsured New Yorkers?" Independent Budget Office website. 1 July 2019.
6. Data USA.
7. Independent Budget Office.
8. Data USA.
9. Data USA.
10. Montgomery, 19 March.
I’m not sure I believe the statistics. There are so many reasons people might not be tested.
First there are the official hurdles. Testing didn’t begin in Espanola until March 19, and then the hospital only had 45 test kits. While four days was the usual delay in results in other parts of the country, laboratories in New Mexico were only processing "a few hundred specimens each day." [2]
Because resources are so limited, the local hospital is only testing people who show serious symptoms. Before an individual is tested, he or she must call the hospital and answer questions to establish a claim.
Beyond the official barriers, there are economic ones. In New York City, which currently has the greatest number of Coronavirus cases in the country, the poverty rate was 17.3% last October, [3] while the rate in Rio Arriba County was 26.4%. [4] The city’s uninsured rate was 7% last July. [5] In Rio Arriba County, it was 13.8%. [6]
The New York statistics are deceptive. The city has some very wealthy neighborhoods. The uninsured rate among non-citizens was 22%, and probably much higher among those who weren’t legal residents. [7] This may be comparable to Rio Arriba County.
Rumors are rife that while the testing is free, the treatment is not. Several weeks in a hospital’s intensive care unit is not cheap. People who are not insured may not bother, because they can’t afford to be sick.
Variations in insurance plans are another impediment. A third of the insured have their coverage through their employers, which may be the national laboratory or a local government. Another 13.8% are on Medicare. It has copays, unless one buys a supplemental insurance policy. Nearly 30% are on Medicaid or VA plans. [8]
The remaining 9.52% of the insured are on other private plans, which are notorious for high co-pays. [9]
Contact with someone in Santa Fé or Albuquerque who was ill knows no economic boundaries. Families are spread along the length of the Río Grande, and travel is not restricted to the upper classes. The local post office processes passports.
One woman I with whom talked a while back said her daughter was scheduled to go on a cruise, and wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to lose her money. The cost of a cruise could represent some effort at savings, and losing it without reward would be a serious blow.
People who work as maids for the wealthy or hotels in Santa Fé may include people who are not citizens. The fear of the Immigration Service is not limited to those without papers. Anyone who speaks Spanish may be suspect, and that fear inhibits people’s willingness to risk answering questions to get tested.
The greatest barrier is probably cultural. Many people do not trust western medicine, and rely on chiropractors and herbal medicines.
The county is telling people, if they aren’t sick enough to be tested, to "provide self-care until you are either fever-free for 24 hours without medications or until you need emergency care." [10]
Unfortunately, this reinforces people’s tendencies to avoid doctors until things are so serious they must go to the emergency room.
Sources:
1. Molly Montgomery. "Two People in Rio Arriba Test Positive for Coronavirus." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 25 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
2. Molly Montgomery. "Coronavirus Testing Underway in Rio Arriba." Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020.
3. "Mayor de Blasio Announces New York City Poverty Rate Hits Historic Low." New York City, Office of the Mayor website. 1 October 2019.
4. "Rio Arriba County, NM." Data USA website. Viewed 28 March 2020.
5. "Are NYC Health + Hospitals Facilities Located in Community Districts With the Highest Shares of Uninsured New Yorkers?" Independent Budget Office website. 1 July 2019.
6. Data USA.
7. Independent Budget Office.
8. Data USA.
9. Data USA.
10. Montgomery, 19 March.
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