Interior Department says 35 agency staffers have died from COVID-19

The Interior Department confirmed 35 employees have died from COVID-19 as of Friday, prompting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to reimpose a departmentwide mask mandate.

“At Interior, 34 members of our agency family have died from COVID-19,” Haaland said in a video released Friday.

In a tweet, department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said one more staffer has died since the video was recorded earlier this week.

“More than 3,900 [Interior employees] have reported contracting the illness, and the numbers are actually going up,” Haaland added. “Though many people are vaccinated, our country still faces increased rates of COVID-19 infections and more aggressive variants.”...MORE