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Navajo mask mandate overview:
- Who: The Navajo Nation dropped its mask mandate after nearly three years.
- Why: The new president of the Navajo Nation says it is time for the Navajo people to get back to work and that COVID-19 was now considered “low risk” in the area.
- Where: The public health order applies to the Navajo Nation.
The Navajo Nation ended its mask mandate nearly three years after the requirement went into place on the reservation.
In a public health order issued Jan. 20, the Navajo Department of Health says it lifted the indoor mask mandate for all businesses and the general public. The Navajo reservation spans some 27,000 square miles and stretches through New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
The order came amid Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren’s first full week in office.
“It’s time for the Navajo people to get back to work,” Nygren says in a statement. “It’s time for them to be able to open their chapter houses to conduct local business and to receive services they are asking for and deserve.”
The Navajo reservation is among the last jurisdictions to lift its mask mandate in public spaces, he added.
An indoor masking requirement will remain in place in early childhood education, primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, health care facilities and for people with or exposed to COVID-19, the public health order says.
Navajo mask mandate lifted as risk of COVID-19 infection now low on reservation, officials say
Based on current information and data analysis, the “current risk for infection is low” on the reservation, the order says.
According to the order, 2,009 Navajo Nation residents died from COVID-19 as of Jan. 26. Between Jan. 12 and Jan. 18, 81 COVID-19 cases were confirmed for a seven-day incidence rate of 51 cases per 100,000 people, and hospital beds were filled at a “low-risk” level, the order adds.
Navajo Speaker Pro Tem Otto Tso says he wants to continue to make sure the welfare of communities, families and elders is still a “top priority.”
“As we move forward, our Nation’s safety will lie directly in our hands, a responsibility that should not be taken lightly, so I ask you to continue taking precautionary measures,” Tso says in a statement.
With more than 80,500 cases recorded overall, the reservation has seen the second-highest cumulative number of cases of any Indian Health Service area, according to federal data.
Afterwards, former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez took to Twitter to oppose the move to drop the Navajo mask mandate, saying it was the reason the Navajo Nation had been able to keep cases down compared to other regions around the reservation. Nez implemented the mask mandate in April 2020.
In related Navajo news, in 2020, four members of the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit seeking to ease Arizona’s deadline for mail-in ballots so that members could make sure their vote was counted. The case was dismissed in January 2021.
What do you think of the Navajo Nation’s move to drop the mask mandate? Let us know in the comments!
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