Tourist and second home owners are ask to not come to Ruidoso at this time

 PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO
https://www.cbs7.com/content/news/Village-of-Ruidoso-asks-visitors-to-say-away-during-public-health-crisis-569047681.html

RUIDOSO, New Mex. (KOSA) -- The Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico is asking visitors and vacation homeowners to stay away during this public health crisis.

The mayor issued an executive order that took effect Monday, that discourages all travel to Ruidoso and closes the Grindstone Lake and Alto Lake areas.

“It breaks our hearts to say this, but we are asking our visitors to stay home and postpone their trip to Ruidoso at this time,” Justin Huffmon, the Village of Ruidoso Director of Tourism, said in a written press release. “We know many visitors consider us home, but in the interest of social distancing and flattening the curve, we all need to do our part to eliminate the spread of COVID-19. We ask that you comply with our request to stay home and plan your trip to Ruidoso at a later date.”

Statewide, the New Mexico Department of Health is asking anyone who travels in from outside of the state to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor themselves for symptoms.

On top of that, New Mexico has prohibited public gatherings, closed restaurants to everything but drive-thru business, closed casinos, and limited hotels to only 50% of their max occupancy.

Small Mountain Towns

There seems to be this strange perception that mountain towns are safe in the wake of the current COVID-19 crisis. Safe to whom? Most of these small communities have limited medical resources, in fact, the town of Jackson, Wyoming only has 10 ventilators. All it takes is one asymptomatic person with the virus to potentially overload an already tiny medical center.

Does this situation sound particularly safe to an immunocompromised 65-year-old who lives here?

 
Mountain towns all throughout the U.S. are making the same plea to visitors: Please stay home. Visit Mammoth Lakes recently released a statement asking anyone who wasn’t a primary resident of the area to stay away temporarily. And while these statements might feel blunt to visitors, please understand that they’re hard to make. Small communities are largely driven by tourism. Cutting off this the essential source of revenue equates to a catastrophic loss of hotel, restaurant, and other customer service jobs. We’re already seeing this play out in Jackson with a large portion of the community currently unemployed. Rather than add stress to our already spread thin resources, consider making a donation to our local food bank.


Instead of going on an epic road trip right now, use your time at home to plan a vacation when the pandemic settles down. All these communities would love your business—just not right now. 

https://www.tetongravity.com/story/news/psa-mountain-towns-are-not-safe-havens-during-covid-19?bwf_dp=t&bwf_entry_id=65777&bwf_token_id=20114&bwf_token=YtKSP3DY3G6F8R4HPjvXl84lp

Moisture in February