Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians won’t follow NC’s new COVID curfew, chief says
Stores will shutter and gatherings are expected to peter out by 10 p.m. Friday as Gov. Roy Cooper’s new executive order goes into effect across North Carolina.
Everywhere, that is, except at the Qualla Boundary in the western-most corner of the state.
The Qualla Boundary is the reservation that belongs to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians — the only federally-recognized tribe in North Carolina and a sovereign nation. On Friday, Principal Chief Richard Sneed announced the tribe wouldn’t adopt Cooper’s latest executive order.
“As Principal Chief of the EBCI I have worked with EBCI public health officials to enact social distancing measures that protect our tribal citizens and guests while balancing the financial position of our community,” Sneed said in a statement on Facebook. “I will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 in our community and will update our community if further measures are warranted.”
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has reported a total of 652 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, 58 of which are active. Just two people are currently hospitalized, according to the Public Health and Human Services.
During a news conference Tuesday, Cooper announced a modified stay-at-home order under which alcohol sales are banned after 9 p.m. and most businesses — with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations — must close by 10 p.m.
Individuals are also encouraged to go home from public gatherings or friends’ houses at that time.
“The stakes are dire,” Cooper said in making the announcement. “This is truly a matter of life and death.”
The order comes as new coronavirus cases statewide topped 7,500 on Friday. Health officials also announced 48 counties in North Carolina had entered the “red” zone on the state’s COVID-19 risk map — including four of the five counties that encompass the Qualla Boundary. Red indicates “critical community spread,” according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
The reservation is in parts of Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Haywood and Swain counties in Western North Carolina. Of the five, Graham is the only county not in red on the risk map.
The Qualla Boundary covers about 56,000 acres held in trust by the federal government and is home to 13,400 members, according to the tribe’s website. In March, Sneed issued a state of emergency shutting down businesses and closing the reservation’s borders, The Atlantic reported.
Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, the author of the article, is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
She described the tribe as being proactive about testing, contact tracing and isolating early on in the pandemic — putting it at times far ahead of state and local governments scrambling to flatten the curve. When North Carolina’s COVID-19 positivity rate climbed to 10% in July, Clapsaddle said the ECBI’s rate lingered between 2% and 4%.
The tribe slowly began to reopen businesses in May, including its two casinos.
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Jackson County reported a cluster of coronavirus cases in July among five employees, but the casinos have in large part continued to operate. Cooper signed an order July 26 allowing sports gambling at the two tribal casinos, The News & Observer reported.
Sen. Jim Davis, a Republican who filed the bill, said the new gambling measures were expected to enhance the tribe’s revenue by about $14 million, according to The N&O.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 6:13 PM.
