New Mexico activates ‘crisis care’ standards for hospitals overwhelmed by covid Griff Witte New Mexico on Thursday suspended all nonessential surgeries and activated “crisis care” standards, a move that clears the way for a system of rationing amid a coronavirus surge that has overwhelmed the state’s capacities. Under the twin orders by the state’s health department, elective surgeries will be banned until Jan. 4. Health-care providers, meanwhile, will be permitted to begin implementation of a statewide plan for stretching the state’s increasingly scarce health-care resources. The system ultimately could allow doctors to determine which patients receive care, depending on who is likeliest to survive.