The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has ordered a week-long lockdown for the Pine Ridge Reservation running from 10:00 Friday night to 6:00 AM on Friday October 30th. The vote was 15-2 with 2 council members not voting.
The lockdown means that in most cases no one will be allowed travel on or off the reservation for 7 days. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribal roads, and nonessential businesses will close for a week as well.
Essential employees and services supporting the tribe are not included in the lockdown, nor is emergency travel.. There are also specific plans to provide elders with food and ensure mental health care for tribal residents.
Oglala Lakota County, which includes most of the Pine Ridge Reservation, had 357 active cases on Thursday while the Indian Health Service Hospital in Pine Ridge had 17 patients with COVID-19.
The county has had 710 confirmed cases, 348 recoveries, and 5 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Over 21% of RT-PCR tests have come back positive.