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Posted: March 18, 2020

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News Release

March 18, 2020

Ponca Tribe of Nebraska declares State of Emergency and announces travel ban

Lincoln, Nebraska – The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has declared a State of Emergency, in response to diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the Ponca Tribe service delivery area counties in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. The announcement comes a year to the day after declaring an emergency in response to the widespread flooding that affected Ponca Tribal homelands and their service delivery areas. 

Ponca Tribal Chairman Larry Wright, Jr. made the official announcement at 1:50 pm, Friday, March 13th, citing communication with the Health Departments in all three states, along with the increasing gravity of the situation throughout the nation and worldwide, as reasons for the declaration. Ponca Tribal Council and staff have been monitoring the situation surrounding the spread of COVID-19 for several weeks now, assessing how best to protect tribal citizens, tribal businesses, those who utilize tribal services, and Ponca Tribe of Nebraska staff, while remaining able to continue to serve the people. 

With this declaration, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has instituted a COVID-19 response team to manage the public health aspects of this incident, and activated their Emergency Management Plan, requesting cooperation and assistance from State and appropriate Federal agencies. 

Ponca Tribal Chairman Larry Wright, Jr. spoke of the thought and planning that went into the declaration, “This declaration was made with the most up-to-date information available to us.  It’s a result of many hours of deliberations on behalf of our Tribal Council and our team that has been at the forefront in response and planning for the protection of our people.  It’s also done due to the shortfall in funding of IHS, and the impact that funding shortfall has on tribal nations, specifically the Ponca Tribe.  We want to make sure our tribal citizens and employees have all the resources that will be needed to help fight this disease and the unknown that is associated with it.  At this time we also want to thank the local, county, and state agencies that our Response Team has coordinated with to help combat this in all the communities that we are in.”  

Following that declaration, on Monday, March 16, 2020, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska announced a tribal wide travel ban for all employees and tribal officials, banning all outside travel, and limiting any non-essential travel between tribal office locations throughout the state.  Additionally, all tribally sponsored community programs, trainings and events are postponed or cancelled until May 1, 2020.

Ponca Tribal officials will continue to monitor this rapidly evolving situation, working and making changes as necessary to mitigate any potential harm to the tribal community, especially elders and other vulnerable populations, keeping the community updated  via the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska website and Ponca Tribal social media channels. Anyone with questions regarding COVID-19, or tribal response to this pandemic is invited to contact the tribe via email at covid-19@poncatribe-ne.org. 

Separately, the Prairie Flower Casino, which is located on Tribal land in Carter Lake, Iowa, voluntarily closed its doors at Noon on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. The casino will be closed until 11:59 p.m. on March 31, 2020, with casino management assessing the situation on an ongoing basis.

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