San Carlos Apache Tribe officials are placing tougher restrictions on members after at least 50 came into contact with a non-member who later tested positive for COVID-19.
The tribe, located east of Phoenix, had a spike in testing over the weekend in response to three visitors who came to the reservation to attend a wake and one visitor later tested positive for COVID-19.
That person came in contact with at least 50 tribal members, officials said in a statement. Forty nine of those people have already tested negative and one test is still pending as of Tuesday.
An April 11 resolution bans wakes and funeral services. It limits burial services to two hours and 10 people. The resolution also bans non-tribal members from the reservation, but makes exceptions for who are residents, are married to tribal members or work as health care workers, first responders or essential tribal government employees.
“The council took these actions because we realized that all it takes is one person that can infect us all," said chairman Terry Rambler in a statement.
The resolution also bans gatherings of more than 10 people in private residences and requires local vendors and residents to wear face masks and gloves.
This scare came as the tribe is running low on personal protective equipment for medical staff.
The resolution said the tribe’s health department only has 524 first-line PPE kits. These supplies are good for 11 days for one patient at the current rate of consumption.
"In order to safely protect our health care workers and patients from exposure, we need 2,430 PPE kits for just one day to care for the capacity that we have (54 beds)," officials said in a letter to Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona Department of Health Service Director Dr. Cara Christ. "Ultimately, Governor Ducey and Dr. Christ, we need 72,900 PPE kits. This would cover 30 days."
The tribe has received N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile but those were all expired and the tribe doesn't currently have any non-expired N95 masks.
So far, no tribe members have tested positive for COVID-19.
