Mary Lou Cooper

All around town, kids and adults alike are gearing up for Halloween 2021.

Trick or Treating at the Santa Fe Place Mall is back. Opportunities to celebrate are abundant at school and church festivals, pumpkin patches, library events and private dinner parties. One Santa Fe pub is even advertising a Halloween Bar Crawl.

But wait... Is it safe to enjoy Halloween in the time of COVID?

Now that the Federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have approved booster shots for Moderna and J&J vaxxers, boosters are now available for more than 200,000 New Mexicans in the first roll-out.

So, we've all probably wondered... Is it okay to mix and match COVID-19 vaccines?

And that answer is: yes! That's according to University of California San Francisco professor and infectious disease specialist, Dr. Monica Gandhi and both the Federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

COVID-19 booster shots from Pfizer are now rolling out in New Mexico. 

Some 365,000 people are eligible for the first round in October for those are at least six months out from their two-shot vaccine course and are in high-risk categories.

For many people, one of the rites of fall is getting the flu shot. 

According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, the upcoming flu season could arrive early and be more severe. That’s because last time around, we had an unusually mild flu season likely due to COVID-19 mitigation measures like face masks, hand washing, and physical distancing. As a result, population immunity against the flu is now much lower.

Running a restaurant is a risky business in the best of times.  According to the National Restaurant Association, during the pandemic, some 90,000 restaurants in the U.S. closed permanently.

After many months of staying at home during the pandemic, both Americans and New Mexicans are ready to drive, fly, and yes, sail once again. 

This month yet another COVID-19 fraud made the headlines — this one involving fake vaccination cards. 

Quarantines, mask mandates, and social distancing have pushed more families to bridge the gap of isolation and loneliness with pets of all kinds and sizes. 

But, as KSFR’s Mary Lou Cooper reports, with this newfound demand for furry friends comes a scam that advertises pets online with the intention of taking money from victims. 

The New Mexico Department of Health reports that although the risks are small, Johnson and Johnson vaccine breakthroughs were 50 percent more likely than Pfizer vaccine breakthroughs. 

KSFR's new interim news director Bryce Dix talks with reporter Mary Lou Cooper about his vision for public radio at KSFR.

Vaping is what happens when consumers inhale and exhale electronically produced vapor which contains nicotine, but not tobacco. The delivery devices are typically shaped like cigarettes, pens or even flash drives.  Are these devices a high-tech alternative to tobacco smoking? Or do e-cigarettes bring their own set of health and safety concerns with them?  Consumer reporter Mary Lou Cooper talks to University of New Mexico health expert Dr. Sidhu to find out more about the health impacts of vaping, especially on teens.