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  • Note: The daily COVID-19 newsletter will take a vacation from Dec. 21 until Jan. 4. 
  • The state Department of Health announced on Wednesday 1,816 new cases of COVID-19 and 43 additional deaths. Read more here.
  • Even though the average number of cases statewide went down, all 33 states are now at the “red” level for reopening, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
    • The counties closest to getting to yellow, which requires a positivity rate of 5 percent or below were, in order: San Miguel County (at 6.6 percent, and which which was previously in yellow), Taos County (6.7 percent) Los Alamos County (7 percent), Harding County (8.3 percent) and Cibola County (8.6 percent). Harding County (10.1 cases per 100,000 residents) is the only county particularly close to reaching 8 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents. If any county reaches both, that county would be in green restrictions.
  • The state also eased restrictions on capacity in grocery stores in an attempt to alleviate lines outside. Read more here.
  • On Wednesday, Navajo Nation health officials reported 160 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths.
  • A nurse at the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences said it underreported the number of residents who died from COVID-19, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
  • Memorial Medical Center began providing vaccinations to frontline workers on Wednesday, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
  • Those at Gila Regional Medical Center in Grant County also received vaccinations, the Silver City Daily Press reported.
  • The Las Cruces Sun-News wrote about a 29-year-old woman who died from COVID-19, and the frustration of her family trying to get information as she was transferred.
  • A 35-year-old man from Hobbs with no known underlying conditions died of COVID-19, KRQE-TV reported.
  • Dozens of inmates from the Penitentiary of Santa Fe sued the state over an alleged lack of COVID-19 safeguards, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
  • The Mescalero Apache Tribe remembered those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 with a cross on the lawn of the Tribal offices, KRQE-TV reported. The tribe has lost 17 members to the disease.
  • The San Juan Regional Medical Center deployed contingency plans to add beds for COVID-19 patients, as hospitalizations have nearly doubled, the Farmington Daily Times reported.
  • The Santa Fe City Council voted to reallocated $5.43 million of federal pandemic aid to projects beyond Dec. 30, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
  • Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donated billions to charities in the last four months, including to some nonprofits in New Mexico, Albuquerque Business First reported.
  • The Nob Hill breakfast and lunch restaurant The Farmacy is hoping to raise money from a GoFundMe to keep its doors open, KOB-TV reported.