New Mexico asks visitors to comply with quarantine, mask rules

SANTA FE, New Mexico — The New Mexico State Tourism Department has published notices informing residents of neighboring states that visitors should comply with New Mexico's rules regarding face masks and travel quarantines.

Complete details on these travel rules can be found by clicking here.

The notices published in six newspapers in Texas and Arizona include iconic New Mexico images and letters explaining New Mexico has different rules than the other two states.

Under the state’s public health order from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, people who ignore face mask requirements in public places can be fined $100. New Mexico also re-instituted a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all out-of-state visitors, the governor recently announced.

The tourism department spent $67,000 on the full-page advisories in major newspapers in Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona and in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas in Texas.

Tourism department spokesman Cody Johnson said Texas and Arizona were targeted because the states recently have experienced surges in Covid-19 infection rates.

“We just wanted to find an opportunity to share that information with the traveling public in our neighboring states," Johnson said.