A nominating committee selected a long-time prosecutor and public defender to fill a vacant bench. Before starting, she must receive the governor s blessing.
NMED Fighting Pandemic From Sewers: COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Program Shows Early Success
NMED News:
Program prevents outbreak at Las Cruces juvenile justice facility
In early December, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) launched an innovative wastewater monitoring program to protect New Mexicans from COVID-19 at congregate settings in southern New Mexico.
Just a few weeks later, the program prevented a COVID-19 outbreak at a southern New Mexico juvenile justice facility. NMED is applying cutting-edge science to protect public health in southern New Mexico.
Here’s how it works:
COVID-positive individuals – whether they are symptomatic or not – shed COVID-19 in their feces;
LAS CRUCES - It may not be the most glamorous tool in the toolbox, but as part of New Mexico s efforts to track the movement of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the state Environment Department has begun sampling sewage from prisons and other congregate settings in southern New Mexico.
On Wednesday, samples were collected from the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility and the J. Paul Taylor Center, a juvenile detention facility, both located west of Las Cruces.
The New Mexico Wastewater Surveillance System aims to detect the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease, and allocate testing resources accordingly. Wastewater is a pretty straightforward way of sampling a population: Those who have contracted the virus shed the virus within feces and urine, Jim Murphy, associate dean for research at New Mexico State University s College of Arts and Sciences, said.