There have been five confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to people at the Roundhouse. Courtesy image

By DANIEL J. CHACÓN
SFNM

House Speaker Brian Egolf said Friday the 60-day legislative session will go on as scheduled despite five confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to people at the Roundhouse, including a Republican lawmaker.

“There is no reason to delay the session,” Egolf said during a virtual news conference. “We are going to continue to work.”

Before the session began Jan. 19, Republicans and Democrats alike asked if the session could be delayed until vaccinations were more widely available and the spread of COVID-19 had slowed in New Mexico.

“The people of New Mexico elected us to a job to come here and provide them with relief and recovery from COVID-19, and that is exactly what we’re doing,” Egolf said.

“The people of New Mexico can’t wait, and they cannot afford the time that it would require for the Legislature to adjourn and return later in the year,” Egolf added. “The Senate and the House feel strongly that we need to continue to do our work and to do so in a way that’s as safe as possible.”

Two of the five COVID-19 cases were detected before the start of the session.

“The two cases on [Jan. 16] were pre-session screening tests from non-legislative staff and non-legislators,” Raúl Burciaga, director of the Legislative Council Service, wrote in an email to lawmakers and others.

“One individual was placed on quarantine status,” Burciaga wrote. “The other individual tested positive because the individual was still within the 90 days since a COVID-19 infection but that individual was no longer symptomatic and thus was not a ‘new positive case’. That means there have been three positive cases among staff or legislators in the Capitol since the beginning of session, not five.”

Tripp Stelnicki, a spokesman for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the governor found the coronavirus cases at the Roundhouse “very concerning”.

“I’m glad that a spokesperson for the Republican caucus [said] they’re working with the Department of Health now that one of their members is infected,” Stelnicki said. “If they would’ve been willing to work with the Department of Health 11 months ago, I think a lot of New Mexican lives might have been saved.”

Stelnicki also said he expected “accountability mechanisms” for people who aren’t wearing face masks in the Capitol, which Egolf said is happening among some Republican House members.

“Legislators can put their masks on and avoid groups and participate remotely and do their work just like every other New Mexican who has been showing up for more than a year in these trying times,” Stelnicki said.

Egolf said lawmakers were adopting additional measures going forward.

“I am using the authority vested in me by the Constitution in the House to restrict access to the floor to myself or my designee, as well as one member of the leadership of each party or that member’s designee, as well as a few essential staff that are necessary on the floor, like the chief clerk, and those that operate the technology you need to be present on the floor,” he said.

DOH identified the five cases of the coronavirus from testing at the Capitol:

• Jan. 16: 2 cases;
• Jan. 21: 1 case;
• Jan. 26: 1 case; and
  
• Jan. 27: 1 case.