Warm Springs shutting down tribal govt. until Aug. 3 as COVID-19 cases rise to 133

Council also adopts 'stay-home' order, may detain non-compliant, infectious travelers

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Warm Springs Tribal Council agreed Monday to shut down the tribal government until August 3 and took other steps to "flatten the curve" as the reservation's COVID-19 case count rose to 133, up 55 so far this month.

Here's a full news release issued Monday evening by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs:

“As of 5:00p on 7/20/2020 – Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center has sent in or tested 1613 Total Tests, 1430 Total Negative, 44 Test Pending, 133 Total Positive Cases, 6 Total Invalid, 10 Hospitalized, 6 Discharged, 88 Recovered. Note – the STATE lab is taking 24-48 hours for results and our maximum daily capacity for Rapid tests is 20-22.

"Our test kit inventory currently stands at 119 STATE and 502 ABBOTT (Rapid) test kits. We continue to do random surveillance testing of our high-risk community members, our healthcare and first responder staff, and we continue to conduct broader surveillance of the CTWS employees, as the community has reopened,” said Hyllis D. Dauphinais, Sr. CEO, Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center

"The Warm Springs Tribal Council accepted the recommendations from the Warm Springs CoVID-19 Response Team to shut down the tribal government until August 3, 2020. The percentage of positive cases to the number of tests have a high percentage that brought about the closure recommendations.

"Please note the “Stay at home” order for two weeks is to help lessen the spread of the disease in our community. The health professionals tell us to flatten the curve, since we’ve had 55 new cases since July 1st and five new hospitalizations in the same timeframe.

"Essential services will be available for tribal members, as well as recommending that travel be limited to essential needs, acquiring food, medicines, doctor visits, related medical issues for disabled persons.

"Tribal Council was very busy in governance of the reservation, including the passage of Resolution 12,710 that added more strength to keeping non-compliant individuals or groups isolated or quarantined.

"They also passed Ordinance No. 101, Emergency Detention of Contagious or Infectious Persons, Chapter 332, WS Tribal Code. This ordinance will protect the Warm Springs community and have due process for the individual; possible detention for those who are infectious or possible infectious but choose to travel out of their place of isolation or quarantine.

"The Boil Water Notice is still in effect for Warm Springs Agency area. For more information contact: The Branch of Public Utilities, Water and Wastewater division at (541)553-3246. Conservation of water is critical as repairs will take time; please continue to conserve water. The water available for the Agency community is still low."