it was estimated that approximately 1 in 800 north dakota residents had died from covid-19. december 2020 following three previous months of rising active cases, north dakota saw near 50% drop in cases over the past several weeks. the drop in active cases was attributed to further mitigation efforts and mask mandates on the local and state level. on december 5, north dakota exceeded 1,000 deaths. the state was fourth-highest in new cases per-capita. on december 9, governor burgum extended the november 13 orders, with continued occupancy restrictions lasting until january 8, 2021, and the mask mandate until january 18, 2021, citing the continued strain on the hospital system. on december 13, north dakota reported no coronavirus-related fatalities for the first time since september, with active cases of covid-19 dropping below 3,000. on december 14, the state received the first initial doses of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine after being approved under an emergency use authorization. on december 17, north dakota exceeded 1,200 deaths. by december 19, total covid-19 cases in north dakota exceeded 90,000. on december 21, north dakota health officials stated that contract tracing had become "more manageable" due to the decreasing infection rate, determining that it could restart full operations within the week after being halted in october. january 2021 on january 2, new data including coronavirus numbers from the new year's day holiday put north dakota's death toll past 1,300 cumulatively. by january 4, the state's rolling average was now 4.4%. governor burgum announced that the state-wide risk level would be lowered from orange to yellow ("moderate") on january 8, allowing an easing of capacity limits on bars, restaurants, and event venues. on january 15, governor burgum further announced that the state would drop its mask mandate and capacity restrictions for businesses on january 18, becoming guidelines no longer enforced as health orders. burgum stated that active cases in the state had fallen by 80% since the strengthened measures were announced in november, and that the state's seven-day average was among the lowest nationwide. february 2021 by february 7, north dakota had the most covid-19 cases per capita. march 2021 on march 11, north dakota commemorated the one-year anniversary of the first covid-19 case being identified in the state. april 2021 on april 20, 2021, the canadian province of manitoba announced an agreement with north dakota to open vaccination clinics on the united states border for manitoba truck drivers entering the united states on assignment. response north dakota's covid-19 unified command team was initially led by state health officer mylynn tufte and north dakota national guard adjutant general alan dohrmann. additional members include north dakota university system chancellor, mark hargerott, and state superintendent, kristen baesler. following the state's first confirmed case, guidance was issued on the organization of events and gatherings based on three risk thresholds. the state also recommended that long-term care facilities limit visitors to immediate family for residents in critical or end-of-life care. on march 19, governor burgum ordered the closure of dine-in restaurants, cinemas and entertainment venues, and gyms. access to state facilities was also limited. on march 24, governor burgum issued an executive order halting in-person north dakota department of transportation (nddot) administrative hearings and eliminated load restrictions on state highways. on march 26, burgum expanded vote-by-mail flexibility by waiving the requirement to have in-person voting facilities for counties. on march 27, personal care services were added to the previously issued executive order. on march 29, burgum mandated that residents returning from travel outside of north dakota must self-isolate for 14 days. on march 31, burgum announced the establishment of the workforce coordination center (wcc), which aimed to support the needs of emergency workforce that have been impacted by covid-19. on april 1, the executive order closing certain businesses was extended through april 20. burgum also signed a new executive order waiving the one-week waiting period to access unemployment benefits to mitigate the impact of covid-19 on individuals and household members who lost their jobs. on april 7, a formal executive order was issued to restrict visitation of long-term care homes. smart restart on april 28, governor burgum announced "smart restart" guidelines for reopening bars and restaurants beginning may 1, with capacity limited to 50%. on may 15, recommendations were issued for the reopening of arenas and event venues, with a capacity of up to 250 people. on may 22, it was announced that entertainment venues, recreation facilities, and personal care services could reopen under smart restart guidelines, and that some state employees would return to on-site work. on may 29, the state was downgraded from "moderate" to "low-risk" status on the smart restart plan, allowing restaurants and bars to expand to up to 75% capacity, event venues to expand to up to 75% capacity or 500 people, and cinemas to expand to 65%. on june 9, the state approved a plan to allow 82 of its long-term care homes to begin lifting restrictions, including allowing outdoor visitation and limited indoor group activities. on october 14, governor burgum announced that the smart restart plan would be updated effective october 16, with tightened restrictions on gatherings and business capacity in higher risk areas. amid a statewide surge, on november 13 burgum announced new restrictions effective november 14, including requiring bars and restaurants to reduce their capacity to 50% and close from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. nightly, reducing large venues to 25% of capacity, and suspending all high school winter sports and other extracurricular activities until december 14. on december 21, the curfew for bars and restaurants was lifted due to a decrease in cases and hospitalization, but occupancy limits remained in force — having been extended through january 8. on january 8, 2021, restrictions were eased to allow bars and restaurants to expand to 65% capacity or 200 patrons (whichever is lower), and event facilities to 50% capacity. face masks during a press briefing on may 23, governor burgum appealed for residents to stop "shaming" others for wearing face masks in public, arguing that they were not a political issue, and that they may be doing so to help protect vulnerable family members. in response to a heightened rate of new cases, on october 20 mayor of fargo tim mahoney utilized emergency powers to enact a citywide mask mandate. minot also imposed a mandate through a vote by the city council voting in a (5–2) majority. in an october 26 meeting with white house coronavirus response coordinator deborah birx, governor burgum stated that he did not plan to mandate masks state-wide. although he did not contest their effectiveness, burgum argued that it was up to residents to decide whether they wanted to or not. on november 13, governor burgum announced a state-wide mask mandate. three local sheriffs announced that they would refuse to enforce the mandate. on january 14, 2021, republican house member jeff hoverson attempted to introduce a bill that would prohibit local mask mandates, or businesses from mandating masks in order to enter. the mandate expired on january 18, 2021, with governor burgum citing a drop in active cases and hospitalizations. some cities are maintaining mask mandates at a local level. on february 22, 2021, the state house of representatives advanced a bill 50–44 that would prohibit the adoption and enforcement of mask mandates by state and local officials, and anyone from mandating masks as "a condition for entry, education, employment, or services". support of the bill cited allegations surrounding effectiveness of face masks, and claims that mask mandates were part of a larger conspiracy. on april 7, the senate passed an amended version of the bill, which would only prohibit the mandating of masks by state officials. the amended bill was passed by the house, but vetoed by governor burgum on april 21. however, the veto was overridden by the house, and the bill was therefore passed on april 22. care19 alert and care19 diary the state introduced an encounter logging app known as care19, developed by proudcrowd (which had developed a similar app for the north dakota state bison football team), which is designed to track locations where a person had been in order to assist with contact tracing. the app faced a mixed reception from users due to perceived inaccuracies in location logging, including primarily using wi-fi and cellular signal locations rather than gps. on may 20, north dakota was one of the first states to commit to using the bluetooth-based exposure notification system, which wirelessly logs encounters with other users of the app, and can inform them if they had been within proximity of someone who had later tested positive for covid-19. care19 alert was released on august 13, 2020. it coexists with the existing care19 app, which was renamed care19 diary. schools on march 15, governor burgum announced that k-12 schools would be closed for a week from march 16–20 as a cautionary measure. on march 19, burgum extended the closure of schools through april 1, and asked schools to implement alternative learning plans. on march 30, burgum allowed certain schools to provide child care services for the families of health care workers. on may 11, it was announced that schools could re-open for optional summer programs beginning june 1. sports the north dakota high school activities association suspended all winter postseason tournaments on march 13. misinformation