Coronavirus in rural America (Part LXI): Montana and Blackfeet tribe divided on reopening

Browning, Montana, near east entrance to Glacier National Park, August 2011

As the number of coronavirus cases and deaths increases in Montana, albeit very slowly and in proportion the state's sparse population, the Blackfeet Nation has continued to keep its territory closed (part of Glacier County, population 14,000)--including the eastern gateway to Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. 

Coffee shop, Browning, Glacier County
Montana, August, 2011

But the western entrance to the park, toward Kalispell and Whitefish (Flathead County, population 90,000), has re-opened.  Here's the coverage from NPR, from which this excerpt is taken:

The Blackfeet Nation, whose reservation borders Glacier National Park, is maintaining a two-week quarantine order and lodging restrictions for non-residents. Restrictions are set to expire at the end of the month, but tribal leaders have already extended them once and could do so again. That uncertainty has businesses dependent on the roughly $110 million local tourism economy looking for ways to survive until next season.

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Tribal leaders say restrictions are protecting reservation residents with limited access to healthcare, particularly elders, who commonly live with their children and grandchildren. So far there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the reservation.

Glacier Falls, east of the Continental Divide 

I wonder abut the extent to which this Blackfeet decision has been influenced by how hard hit the Navajo nation has been hit in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Prior coverage of the pandemic in Montana is here and here.

Postscript:  screenshot of Twitter feed on June 19, 2020 from journalist/columnist in Flathead County, on the west side of Glacier National Park