PINE RIDGE, S.D. – A facebook post indicates the first positive case of COVID-19 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, the Red Cloud School president, Dr. Raymond Nadolny said in a statement:
“With deep sadness and concern, I need to report that today an employee of Red Cloud Indian School tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This communication is intended to share all the information we currently have and to ensure the highest level of transparency with our staff, students and families, and community members across the Pine Ridge reservation.”
The post indicates that the employee works at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Porcupine and lives in a single-family home on the campus with the person’s spouse. The couple had apparently traveled to California on March 26 for a medical procedure. They returned the following day and went into quarantine for two weeks, in accordance with the school’s travel guidelines.
The person began to feel ill on Friday, April 3 and was instructed to get tested at Martin, South Dakota. After getting tested, the person returned to quarantine. The employee received confirmation Tuesday that the test was positive. Nadolny wrote that’s the same day the person began experiencing respiratory distress.
The person is now being treated at a Rapid City hospital along with the persons spouse, who has also been in quarantine since returning from California.
In response to the case, Oglala Sioux Tribal President Julian Bear Runner issued an executive order banning virtually all movement on the reservation for 72 hours. Additionally, no non-members of the tribe will be permitted onto the reservation during the lockdown, and enrolled members who live off of the reservation are being asked not to enter the reservation during that period.
Only people who are involved in essential services will be permitted to travel.
President Bear Runner said law enforcement will stop anyone traveling during the lockdown and will issue warnings and fines up to $50 for individuals not engaged in permissible travel. Businesses that do not comply face $100/day fines and possible loss of their tribal business license.
