Lockdown to return for Navajo Nation

FARMINGTON — Due to an upswing in COVID-19 infections in certain areas on the Navajo Nation, the tribe will return to a 57-hour lockdown this weekend.

The Navajo Department of Health will revise the public health emergency order to have the weekend lockdown start at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 and end at 5 a.m. Sept. 28. In addition, residents are ordered to stay at home and the daily curfew will start at 8 p.m.

The changes were initially mentioned in a press release from the tribe’s Office of the President and Vice President on Sept. 21, which explained that Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, Arizona, has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases.

The release also stated there have been reports about large social gatherings in the satellite chapters in the Eastern Agency, where physical distancing and wearing face masks were ignored. The chapters of Alamo, Ramah and To’hajiilee are known as satellite areas because they are not located within the main area of the reservation.