The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- North Dakota
- Level
- State
- Authority
- N.D.C.C. title 23, ch. 23-35 (Public Health Units)
- Issued
- 2026-09-29 Sept. 29, 2026
- Effective
- standing (read as 2026-09-29)
- End
- standing
- In force
- Standing since Sept. 29, 2026 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureFace-covering requirementQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; owners or occupants of property; businesses within a public health unit's jurisdiction
- Character
- statutory duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: North Dakota DUT-ND
Operative words
A person who violates any order, ordinance, or rule prescribed by any board of health or health officer or any rule adopted under this chapter is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
Penalty
Class B misdemeanor (23-35-13): thirty days and $1,500 for an individual, $20,000 for an organization (Ex. DUT-ND-006); abatement at the owner's or occupant's expense and assessment against the property (23-35-09)
What it required
Each board of health 'May make rules regarding any nuisance, source of filth, and any cause of sickness which are necessary for public health and safety' (23-35-08(5)), 'May adopt confinement, decontamination, and sanitary measures... which are necessary when an infectious or contagious disease exists' ((8)), 'May make and enforce an order in a local matter if an emergency exists' ((9)), and 'May abate or remove any nuisance, source of filth, or cause of sickness when necessary to protect the public health and safety' ((12)); where abatement is necessary the board 'shall serve notice on the owner or occupant of the property requiring the owner or occupant, at the owner's or occupant's expense, to remove or abate the nuisance, source of filth, or cause of sickness within a time specified by the board' (23-35-09(1)).
Retrieval noteThis is the statutory footing of the local orders preserved by the State's instruments: State Health Officer Order 2020-08 par. 10 ('Nothing in this Order should be construed to prohibit or prevent political subdivisions from implementing... requirements beyond those contained in this Order. Political subdivisions may not relax or reduce this Order's requirements'; Ex. ND-061), the Grand Forks County Health Officer's mask order of November 2020 (Ex. ND-064) and the Governor's statement of Jan. 15, 2021 that 'cities and counties may continue to have mask requirements in place' (Ex. ND-073). Executive Order 2020-14.1 preserved 'local health officers' confinement authority and local boards of health's quarantine authority' (Ex. ND-024).