Gathering Update

The Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council shares the serious concerns about attendance at the 2021 Shawano County Fair and the surge in COVID-19 cases likely due to the Delta variant as described in the recent statement issued by the Menominee Indian Tribe’s Incident Command Team.

In order to be responsible with the health of our members and the larger community, we cancelled the Tribe’s 2021 pow wow. The same reasons for not holding the pow wow would also apply to the Shawano County Fair. We therefore recommend that you choose not to attend the Fair or other large gatherings in the upcoming months.

We strongly encourage vaccination for everyone who is eligible. Vaccination is the best way to protect children, who are not eligible for vaccination, from this disease as well as decrease your own chances of becoming seriously ill. Shawano County currently has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Wisconsin at 39.7% and has a strong upward trajectory in case rates. These conditions, when combined with the fact the Delta variant is more easily transmissible, mean we are more likely to have a spike in cases after the Fair similar to what happened last year.

We also continue to strongly encourage the use of other measures like face masks in public and social distancing. We all hoped that we were on a path that allowed us to return to more normal operations earlier this summer. This unfortunately isn’t the case at this time. We need to continue to do our part to control the spread of disease and particularly to protect the vulnerable children, who are our future.