Three years ago we saw a global shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Mexico took an aggressive approach to public safety with mask mandates, limitations on business capacities and public gatherings. Yet a new report shows the state had one of the highest death rates from COVID. Researchers found states with higher rates of poverty, lower levels of educational attainment, lower levels of interpersonal trust, and worse access to quality health care tended to have worse outcomes.
The pandemic has eased, but not the compulsion of many Americans to cover their faces. Fully vaccinated adults are still wearing masks on their solitary walks outdoors, and officials have been enforcing mask mandates on airline passengers and on.