Mask mandate includes indoor athletics, governor's office says

Aug. 18—The 2021-22 high school and college sports season didn't quite make it out of the starting blocks before being hit with its the first significant change in plans.

Rising hospitalization numbers due to COVID-19, and its highly contagious delta variant, led New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday to reinstate a public indoor mask mandate that will apply not only to fans in the stands at all indoor sporting events, but also to athletes and coaches training, working out or competing in games indoors — regardless of vaccination status.

In announcing a pair of public health orders on Tuesday — one for vaccination requirements for certain occupations, including public and private school employees, and one for the indoor mask requirement that includes "all indoor school settings," the Governor said the goal is simple.

"We can't continue our economic recovery and our positive economic journey if we have out of control COVID cases in the state of New Mexico," she said.

"Masks are still one of the most effective and prudent ways to limit or prevent the transmission of COVID, and in particular right now managing the Delta variant which is much more contagious, and therefore is spreading faster among our unvaccinated populations in the state."

Neither University of New Mexico athletic director Eddie Nuñez nor New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia, when reached Tuesday by the Journal, believed the mandate would affect competition, practices or working out among their vaccinated players. Both said they were already otherwise implementing masking requirements in team meetings and other indoor settings, regardless of a player's vaccination status.

Both universities, and others in the state, since July 1 had been operating under the state's call to adhere to NCAA guidelines, which do allow for practices and indoor workouts or games to occur without masks.

After speaking with both schools, the Journal reached out to the Governor's Office for clarification on whether there is any specific exercise exemption or allowance for vaccinated teams of players — like UNM or NMSU's teams — to compete or train indoors without masks.

"It applies to everything indoors — no exceptions save for eating and drinking," wrote Nora Meyers Sackett, Press Secretary for the Governor, in an email response to the Journal.

The policy goes into place Aug. 20 and will remain through at least Sept. 15.

Earlier in the day, before the public health orders were announced, Meyers Sackett told the Journal there were no "changes specific to sports" coming from the Governor's Office at this time.

"Our main push continues to be getting people vaccinated, whether through an incentive program, family encouragement, or institution policy — any way it happens is saving lives and protecting New Mexicans," Meyers Sackett wrote, adding that the governor was appreciative of all the state's universities — UNM and NMSU included — who implemented vaccine pushes and requirements.

There are no current plans to alter indoor or outdoor fan capacity limits or to go back to regular COVID-19 testing requirements for teams to play outside of the NCAA's requirements for unvaccinated players.

As for any other changes related to sports, Meyers Sackett said, "As always, nothing is completely off the table, but our priority right now continues to be masking up indoors and getting New Mexicans vaccinated."

Restrictions on sports and spectators in the past in New Mexico had been posted regularly in a document shared online by the state titled "All Together New Mexico: COVID-Safe Practices for Individuals and Employers."

That document grew to around 70 pages in February, but stands as just a three-page document today, last updated June 30 — the day before all restrictions around the state were lifted.

The section for professional and college sports now reads, in part, "... teams shall adhere to requirements set forth by their respective leagues or NCAA divisions and conferences."