Last week, the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council approved a resolution extending the Blackfeet Reservation shutdown to Nov. 8 as local health-care personnel continue to battle an outbreak of COVID-19 that has killed more than a dozen tribal and community members.

The closure went into effect in late September and, at the time, was expected to last two weeks. This is the second time the strict reservation-wide mandate has been extended.

The Blackfeet COVID-19 Incident Command recently adopted a four-phase reopening plan for the community and announced on Friday the reservation is still in the first phase, otherwise known as the current “stay at home” leg of the outbreak.

According to the Blackfeet Nation website, the reservation will remain closed so long as cases are not consistently declining over a three-week period, if there are more than three new cases per day in Glacier County and if testing is not readily available to all symptomatic people, asymptomatic high-risk individuals and/or contacts.

Among other measures, phase one requires community members remain in place at their primary residence, prohibits in-person gatherings such as weddings and birthdays and establishes a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Those who violate the mandate, which is being enforced by local law enforcement, may be subject to fines.

The shutdown went into effect after the reservation, which was closed to non-essential travel for months at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experienced an immediate surge of more than 80 cases. When the mandate was extended for the first time to Oct. 25, there were around 300 cases.

In an interview on Oct. 20, Blackfeet Nation spokesperson James McNeely said the area was holding steady at 300 to 350 active cases per day. But as of Sunday, that number had dropped to 186 — a decline that would suggest current measures are helping curb cases.

Also on Sunday, the Blackfeet COVID-19 Incident Command reported 29 individuals were hospitalized for COVID-19 and 16 community members had died from the virus since the start of the pandemic. Thirteen of those deaths occurred on the reservation, one occurred in greater Glacier County and two were out of state.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com