South Dakota Sioux tribe says it won't remove coronavirus checkpoints at request of governor

In order to monitor and track the coronavirus, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota set up checkpoints, and the tribe's chairman, Harold Frazier, told CNN on Sunday the tribe must keep them up as they are the "best tool we have right now" to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"We want to ensure that people coming from hot spots or highly infected areas, we ask them to go around our land," Frazier said. The reservation is home to 12,000 people, and there is only one eight-bed medical facility with no intensive care unit. Frazier said the nearest critical care facility is three hours away, and the checkpoints are due to "the lack of resources we have medically."
Last week, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said the checkpoints need to come down, and her policy director sent a letter to the tribe on Friday saying they are illegal and "interfere with regulating traffic on U.S. and state highways." Noem dismissed quarantine measures in the earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic, and the state was soon home to a huge coronavirus cluster, with hundreds of workers at one pork processing plant becoming infected.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published