They had nearly 7,000 compliance interactions, and issued more than 700 warnings.
However, the city has issued only 13 citations, three in April, one in September and nine in October.
“The team continues to go out, and we want to make sure that the businesses and individuals are doing their parts in slowing down the spread of COVID-19,” said Albuquerque Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Gene Gallegos.
He added that while various agencies can respond to concerns about non-compliance, only law enforcement agencies can issue citations.
Gallegos said most of the calls they’ve received were reports of people without a face covering at food establishments and grocery stories.
However, many of the concerns are not always substantiated.
“We were getting a lot of complaints about places allowing indoor dining, or having above occupancy or the tables were too close together,” said Mark DiMenna, deputy director for the city’s Environmental Health Department. “I mean these are things that we’re all looking for and often when we go there, more often than not, the facilities were actually doing what they should be doing. There was a public perception that maybe that’s not what it should be.”
