Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairmen Harold Frazier is relaxing checkpoint restrictions into Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation to allow vehicles through regardless of residency or business.
The decision was made after consulting medical professionals and the Public Health Task Force as well as the availability of the COVID-19 Vaccinations.
The checkpoints will remain as part of their contacting tracing program. The Tribe’s spokesperson, Remi Bald Eagle says the restrictions may change due potential outbreaks.
“If for instance, a hotspot happened on a community off the reservation and there was an outbreak, then because there's different variances of the virus that are coming out, if an outbreak happens on a community off the reservation, we may still go back to those more strict applications in regards to that particular area.”
Last year, the Tribe’s health checkpoints faced scrutiny by Governor Kristi Noem who said they interfered with interstate commerce and they failed to reach an agreement with the state.