For Immediate Release: September 10, 2020
(Oneida Reservation) – The Oneida Business Committee has acted on the 5th extension to the Oneida Public Health State of Emergency Declaration on the Oneida Reservation. Since March 12, 2020 the Oneida Reservation has been in a public health state of emergency and under a safer at home declaration. For 6 months we have been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and the positive cases on the Oneida Reservation continue to rise.
From March through July, the Nation reported 50 cases and that number doubled on September 1st with 107 positive confirmed cases. Chairman Hill expressed concerns about the upcoming cold and flu season and what impact that may have on complications with COVID-19. Chairman Hill states, “We have to continue our diligence, as tired as we all are of the restrictions placed on our world by this pandemic, we have to remain strong and diligent to keep our community healthy. We have our children and our grandparents to be concerned about, exposing them to COVID could be devastating. Until we see our numbers decrease significantly, we must continue to keep our public health emergency and safer at home declarations extended.”
The Oneida Nation School System begins the opening semester completely virtual with a focus on protecting teachers and students from the spread of the COVID-19. Sharon Mousseau, Oneida School Superintendent was pleased with the first week of online learning. Mousseau said, “We held our first mass online school assembly, and many parents with their students were able to be present for the first day of virtual learning. We are proud of the many hours of training and work our teachers have completed to make our virtual platform the best it can be. We continue to be grateful for the support of our community, elected leadership, School Board, staff, students and families during this historical time.”
The Oneida Nation continues to monitor COVID-19 statistics and will act in accordance with medical professionals as they determine how long to extend the Public Health State of Emergency and Safer at Home declarations on the Oneida Nation Reservation.
For more information contact:
Nate Wisneski, Senior Communications Specialist
(920) 370-3380
