SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday afternoon issued the following statement regarding the Trump administration’s distribution of “Opening Up America Again” guidelines:

“The White House – like states across the country, including ours – is considering what a plan to reopen our economy might look like. We appreciate their suggestions, and we will evaluate them thoroughly, but the plain overriding fact is we cannot put the cart before the horse. As CDC, FEMA, and public health experts across the country have made clear, we are not at a point currently where it would be safe to reopen, and doing so prematurely would undo the heroic work of our health workers and first responders, endanger many more people and essentially guarantee enhanced transmission of the virus, leading to more illness and death. Indeed, just today, we saw the highest single-day COVID-related death toll in our state. Every one of these cases is a tragedy. Every one of the victims and their families and loved ones are in my prayers. And as a state, we mourn with those families. The sad reality is we will see more; that’s the awful nature of this virus, and that’s why we absolutely must keep up our vigorous social distancing efforts, difficult as it is to sacrifice our sense of normalcy. We are flattening the curve – but we can’t stop now.

“Please know that my administration is working doggedly to develop robust economic recovery plans alongside a plan for a thoughtful, staged and flexible reopening of our state – and the moment we can safely implement those plans, they will be implemented with the same dedication and focus that we are using to contain this pandemic. But first things first. And our state’s partnership with the White House to be part of a federal pilot program to demonstrate the effectiveness of aggressive testing and contact-tracing capacity is an enormous step forward. Doing the work to defeat the virus in this way will set the stage for New Mexico to be in the driver’s seat, nationally, for economic recovery – and I believe it will ultimately help state businesses reopen faster and stay open for longer.”