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CHRIS ENLOE
\nTheBlaze<\/p>\n
New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has completely banned traffic movement in one western New Mexico city.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Lujan Grisham invoked the state’s Riot Control Act to prohibit all “nonessential” traffic movements in the city of Gallup, the Associated Press\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lujan Grisham’s lockdown includes a ban on “routine outings” and forces businesses to close from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.<\/p>\n “The spread of this virus in McKinley County is frightful,” Lujan Grisham\u00a0said<\/a>. “And it shows that physical distancing has not occurred and is not occurring. The virus is running amok there. It must be stopped, and stricter measures are necessary.”<\/p>\n The harsh lockdown measures are reportedly meant to slow down a surging coronavirus outbreak happening in that part of the state, which has significantly impacted the Navajo Nation. Gallup sits on the outskirts of the Navajo reservation and is a former trading outpost town for the indigenous group.<\/p>\n State police and the National Guard are helping enforce the lockdown order, the AP reported.<\/p>\n Violations of Lujan Grisham’s order are punishable as misdemeanors on the first offense and as felonies upon subsequent violations.<\/p>\n About 70,000 residents live in and around Gallup. The county within which Gallup is located, McKinley County, is responsible for roughly one-third of all COVID-19 cases in New Mexico,\u00a0according to the Farmington Daily Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n The lockdown was originally set to expire Monday at noon. However, Lujan Grisham\u00a0extended the order over the weekend<\/a>\u00a0for at least three more days upon a request from Gallup’s mayor.<\/p>\n