Where New Mexico stands amid fall ‘tripledemic’

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This flu season is mixing with COVID and RSV for what some officials, including those in New Mexico, are calling a “tripledemic”.

At the end of November, rising RSV cases were reported, while the state’s COVID dashboard also showed all but four counties in the red for virus severity.

A CDC map also showed New Mexico with some of the highest rates of the flu in the U.S. In fact, the state has such high flu rates that we’re listed in purple, a step above red.

Health officials say flu and COVID numbers rose after Thanksgiving and are expected to rise again during Christmas.

That’s why the New Mexico Department of Health’s public order is aimed at helping hospitals get better use of their resources as they deal with rising RSV, flu and COVID cases.

The order was issued on Thursday and requires hospitals to reactivate a “hub-and-spoke” model of resource management, which ensures patients are transferred to the facilities that can best take care of them, based on their symptoms.

The order also advises children with RSV symptoms to stay home and recommends families wear masks indoors and obtain vaccine boosters.

Doctors say the numbers are worrisome but they advise people to do the following:

• Keep kids home if they’re sick
• Keep yourself at home if you’re sick
• Wash your hands thoroughly and often
• Sanitize and disinfect surface areas in your home and at work
• Get vaccinated and boosted to keep yourself healthy

Check out the state’s public health order below.