Facing an influx in COVID-19 cases, the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council recently announced it will not order all reservation residents to quarantine for 14 days as they did recently for Babb and St. Mary, but they will start enforcing mask wearing and other regulations to slow the area’s outbreak.

According to a recent post on the tribe’s COVID-19 Incident Command’s Facebook page, as of Tuesday afternoon, there were 71 active cases on the Blackfeet Reservation, which spans portions of Glacier and Pondera counties. That’s up from 53 active cases reported Saturday.

The spike prompted health officials to implement a mandatory 14-day quarantine order last Thursday for Babb and St. Mary residents. The two unincorporated communities were identified as hot spots for the reservation’s outbreak.

But during a special meeting Monday, council member Rodney Gervais said a similar order will not be going into effect for the entire reservation at this time. He said the plan is to “stay the course” by maintaining the tribe’s current order, which only recommends individuals stay home.

“We did have a recommendation from the IHS (Indian Health Service), which up until now, they’ve been very reluctant to openly make those recommendations,” Gervais said. “They did want us to think about a shutdown for the Blackfeet Nation. As of [Monday], that tune kind of changed after we got to visiting and we got to talk about what was the best plan of action for the Blackfeet people, and it is to stay the course.”

Gervais also said regulations surrounding curfews, mask wearing and quarantine and isolation orders would be more strictly enforced moving forward. In accordance with this, the council approved an amendment to the Blackfeet Tribe COVID-19 ordinance on Sept. 18.

The amendment, which was posted on the Incident Command’s Facebook Tuesday morning states, “the Blackfeet Tribe Business Council has identified that the COVID-19 ordinance is in need of amendment to address the issue of, persons knowingly and intentionally violating public health orders related to infection by the novel coronavirus; it is desired to implement civil enforcement process to provide for enforcement of quarantine and isolation orders by the Blackfeet Tribal Court and duly commissioned officers of the Blackfeet Tribe.”

This is the third amendment that has been made to the tribe’s ordinance, which was adopted on April 1 after the council “identified that the threat of the COVID-19 requires the adoption of a temporary communicable disease ordinance addressing the specific needs tailored to reducing the rate of infection, the protection of the health, safety and welfare of the public for the Blackfeet Reservation.”

Aside from recommending individuals stay home, the ordinance also requires individuals wear face masks at all times while in public, places time restrictions on the purchase and sale of alcohol and established a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., among many other measures.

The council has taken some of the most drastic measures in the state to limit the spread of COVID-19. For example, members voted in late June to close the eastern boundary of Glacier National park into the Blackfeet Reservation for the 2020 tourist season.

The reservation is still closed to all non-essential travel.

On Monday, council members urged the public to continue practicing COVID-19 safety guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including social distancing, frequent hand washing and more.

Chairman for the council, Timothy Davis, cautioned that COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon.

“This is very difficult on everybody. It’s been a long seven months and it’s going to continue,” Davis said. “If you don’t need to go anywhere, don’t go. Wear your masks. Avoid social gatherings. We don’t want to see our at-risk population exposed any more than they have to be.”

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