Statement from Tribal Council about the Employee Data and the December Health Order

The pandemic is a challenging time for all of us. Anxiety is high, uncertainty is everywhere, and data seems to be scarce. To help counter all these feelings that we are all experiencing, the Tribal Council is publishing a new health order and employee COVID data. While our surrounding communities appear to be stabilizing and trending generally downward, our internal numbers for the community and employee base continue to show our collective diligence in following the scientifically supported and endorsed safety measures. Our community's positivity rate continues to be more than 20% below our surrounding areas. While our employee testing data consistently shows a positivity rate below 3%. These numbers are proof that the safety measures adopted by and supported by our community are working.

It is exactly these data points that drive the Tribal Council's daily discussion and assessment of virus conditions with the Tribe's management team. These daily discussions allow for real time active management of the Tribe's safety program and the successful mitigation of infection risk for the community, its employees, and its patrons.

These data points prove that it is safe to work for the Tribe and it is safe to patronize the Tribe's businesses. The success of the COVID safety program is the key to being able to safely operate the Casino and Tribal Government. Casino revenues are needed now more than ever. It is exactly these revenues that provide the increased services needed for those affected by COVID and these revenues offset the increased cost of operating safely during the pandemic.

It is based on all these data points that Tribal Council chose to balance its duty to protect the community with its duty to safely generate needed revenues that is memorialized in the attached health order. It is a delicate balance of continuing the Tribe's successful safety protocol for this airborne virus with the need to generate revenues that sustain the Tribe that allowed the Tribal Council to safely increase the public building capacity from 20% to 25% while ending the curfew.

We are all growing weary and can benefit from the normalized routine of a consistent workday, consistent and reliable services from the Tribal Government and a safe place to have a night out. These changes allow for all those needs to be met while still successfully combating this airborne virus.

We know how to be safe and still operate. We will continue our vigilance and diligence. If conditions change, we are monitoring daily and will make the necessary adjustment.

Together, we got this!