7:19 PM 5.3.20 PRESS RELEASE – Navajo Council announces Gallup’s extension of Lockdown thru Thursday

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham notified the Navajo Nation Office of the Speaker Sunday afternoon that the City of Gallup will continue to be closed through Thursday, May 7 under a state of emergency. The lockdown furthers government efforts to enforce social distancing and thereby interrupt the transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) from person-to-person.

Gov. Lujan Grisham issued Executive Order 2020-027 on Friday closing all roads into Gallup, N.M. and to close businesses from 5:00 PM – 8:00 AM. That order was set to expire at noon on Monday, May 4.

Gallup Mayor Louie Bonaguidi sent a letter (attached) to Gov. Lujan Grisham, dated May 3, 2020, requesting the extension of the state of emergency in the city. Mayor Bonaguidi acknowledged the use of the state’s Riot Control Act was a drastic, but necessary, action to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Gallup city police, McKinley County sheriff’s department, New Mexico State Police and the Department of Transportation partnered to patrol and enforce the closure of Gallup roads.

1,144 positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in McKinley County Sunday evening. The county has the most positive cases in New Mexico.