Leaders on the Navajo Nation have lifted a longstanding COVID-19 mask mandate. Early in the pandemic the reservation was one of the most heavily impacted areas in the country.
Under the order, masks will no longer be required in public indoor spaces throughout all of the reservation’s 110 chapters. It makes face coverings optional except for in schools, nursing homes and healthcare facilities and for those who may have COVID or who’ve been exposed.
The mask mandate has been in effect for almost three years and the Navajo Nation is among the last areas in the country to lift its requirement. In a November interview, Navajo President Buu Nygren said lifting the mandate would help the tribe return to normal business.
"We’re hurting our own economy like that, by making things mandatory. Every other community, every other city across America has kind of done that, and we’re the only ones that’re still holding on to that," said Nygren.
Former Navajo President Jonathan Nez, who lost reelection to Nygren in November, has questioned the decision to lift the restrictions, saying the relatively low rate of recent infections on the reservation was mostly due to the mask mandate. He also called on the administration to be more transparent with COVID data.
At one point in 2020 the Navajo Nation had the highest per capita rate of COVID infections in the country.
