CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

In brighter news, the Arizona National Guard Saturday delivered a shipment of much-needed personal protective equipment to Chinle, where it will be sorted and distributed to Navajo health care facilities. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, meanwhile, is assessing possible sites in Chinle and Kayenta to isolate COVID-19 patients with less severe symptoms from the general public, according to a press release from the president’s office.

The number of confirmed positives tests for COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation has climbed to 270 as of Friday night.

“When you think about the whole school being closed, you think, ‘OK, the kids are gone, the employees are gone –– it’s officially closed.’ But it wasn’t. And we had advocated for that and that’s what people don’t understand.”

Navajo Police Chief Phillip Francisco said starting tomorrow the police will start to issue citations for noncompliance to the stay-in-shelter order, the curfew order, restriction of tourists and non-essential businesses.

The number of confirmed positives tests on the Navajo Nation for COVID-19 has climbed to 241, as of Thursday night, according to a news release from the president’s office.