New Mexico senator decries lack of COVID-19 testing sites near El Paso
State health department promises "testing surge" across southern NM to begin next week
Algernon D'Ammassa
LAS CRUCES - This week's early snowfall in Las Cruces canceled COVID-19 testing in Las Cruces Tuesday and caused further delays on Wednesday, culminating in a long line of cars from the Las Cruces public health office on North Solano Drive.
Everyone with an appointment to be tested Tuesday had to reschedule, and the public health office delayed opening by two hours on Wednesday — even as cars lined up for several blocks.
At the Pathology Consultants of New Mexico office on Commerce Drive, another testing site, state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said he counted more than 200 cars Wednesday morning in a line that extended down Telshor Boulevard.
Marisa Maez, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Department of Health, said there were no shortages of test kits in Las Cruces.
Besides some locations opening late Wednesday, Maez said the lines also illustrate rising demand: "Testing numbers are increasing in south/southeast N.M.," she wrote. "More people are responsibly getting tested. DOH and our partners will accommodate this rise in demand."
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The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease, is raging in Doña Ana County, with 6,078 COVID-19 cases recorded from March 20 through Wednesday, at a rate that has accelerated dramatically in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, the DOH reported 97 new cases in the county, down considerably from earlier this week, when recent daily counts topped Bernalillo County more than once. The county's 71st and 72nd deaths from the disease were also announced Wednesday.
Doña Ana County is adjacent to El Paso, Texas, and its border crossing into Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Both of those cities are contending with strained hospital capacity as the coronavirus spreads rapidly through the borderland.
Given the high prevalence in the county and increasing demand for testing, Cervantes expressed frustration with the lack of facilities for county residents.
Read more: New Mexico building infrastructure to distribute vaccine
"When I called the site location for Anthony and for Chaparral, they told me at about 9 o'clock they were already done for the day — they were at their capacity," Cervantes said, adding that next Monday's available appointments were already mostly booked.
Moreover, the Anthony public health office only offers testing on Monday and Wednesday mornings, per the DOH website, which also states testing is available at La Clinica de Familia's Desert Pride Academy office. The Chaparral public health office is listed as offering testing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Meanwhile, the DOH directory of testing locations included 16 sites in Albuquerque alone, compared to about a dozen in Doña Ana County.
Cervantes called the distribution of testing sites "a gross disparity in the allocation of state resources."
"While the numbers in Doña Ana (County) are the highest in the state the last few days, it's not a sudden, unexpected result," the senator remarked. "The argument I've been making since March is that we needed a special plan for the Borderplex area that would have included a relationship with the mayor of El Paso, the governor of Texas and our ... elected officials in New Mexico. It's not the same as Albuquerque or Santa Fe. You've got a population of three million people down here."
Moreover, Cervantes said he has heard from constituents that some are skipping the long lines in the county and going to El Paso for testing, where a new "mega testing site" at Ascarate Park opened Wednesday to be available seven days a week.
Maez said that the state is planning a "testing surge" across southern New Mexico beginning next week, including in Anthony and Chaparral, but that details had not yet been finalized.
Cervantes welcomed the effort but said it was coming late.
"This is something we could have foreseen weeks and months ago, and should have," he said.
Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.
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