SANTA FE – The state of New Mexico under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration continues to send a high volume of supplemental personal protective equipment to state and local entities like cities, counties, tribes, pueblos, state agencies, elder care facilities, health care clinics and more in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state has aggressively and proactively pursued hundreds of orders for personal protective equipment in recent weeks, buttressing shipments from the federal strategic national stockpile. This equipment is needed not only in hospitals and health care settings but for first responders and others on the front-lines of fighting the pandemic and supporting the state’s cohesive containment and transmission mitigation efforts.

As of Sunday, April 19, the state had shipped 618 total orders of personal protective equipment to counties, emergency responders, shelters, regional medical centers, pueblos and more. The state has distributed 460,915 pairs of exam gloves; 38,160 face shields; 55,686 gowns; 98,880 N95 masks; and 281,080 surgical masks. Over the past weekend alone, the state made shipments to the city of Albuquerque’s emergency operations center, the city of Santa Fe, Los Alamos County, Dona Ana County, McKinley County fire and emergency services, Rio Rancho fire services, Pojoaque Pueblo, Zuni Pueblo, Santa Clara Pueblo as well as residential care facilities, nursing homes and senior living facilities in Bernalillo, Sandoval and Socorro counties, with dozens more orders pending or ready for shipment.

Local entities make personal protective equipment requests of the state’s Emergency Operations Center through their respective emergency managers.

These distributions are in addition to the state’s work in conjunction with hospitals to ensure those health care entities have personal protective equipment for front-line health workers treating patients. The Governor’s Office and Department of Health are actively contacting hospitals to get accurate assessments of their personal protective equipment levels; the state then distributes from its equipment to those entities based on need.

“The state of New Mexico has been and will continue to be a proactive partner with entities all across the state as we battle this pandemic,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. “We are leaning in unequivocally. It goes beyond the work we’ve done with our partners at hospitals and health care facilities all across the state; we’ve provided and will continue to provide PPE to cities and counties and pueblos and all manner of entities who request and need it. Because we are immensely grateful to our first responders and the helpers every single day. If they’re not protected, we’re not protected. And we will do everything in our power to keep it that way.”

Additionally, the state, through its Aging and Long-Term Services Department, has been working with the New Mexico Health Care and the New Mexico Home Health and Hospital Associations to provide supplemental PPE to all nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice and assisted living facilities across the state. As of Sunday, more than 100 providers have received the state-supplemented PPE, including more than 1,000 surgical masks, 2,000 pairs of gloves and 1,000 face shields. The state Department of Health COVID-19 Provider Portal has been enhanced to allow long-term care facilities to enter quantities of both their personal protective equipment as well as bed capacities. The portal also collects daily equipment use and burn rates to more accurately address the personal protective needs of the facilities.