COVID-19 cases quadruple in a week in Northern Nevada tribe

The number of COVID-19 cases on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation in Northern Nevada more than quadrupled in just over a week.

As of Tuesday, 20 people had tested positive for the disease caused by the new coronavirus across the reservation’s three communities of Nixon, Sutcliffe and Wadsworth, according to Tribal Council Chairman Anthony Sampson. There were just four confirmed cases April 24 on the reservation, which is located about 35 miles northeast of Reno in a remote desert area spanning Washoe, Lyon and Storey counties.

“It jumped from a single digit to a double digit,” Sampson said in a video update Tuesday recorded from his home, where he is self-isolating after possible exposure to the respiratory virus.

The reservation’s current population was not clear Tuesday as a request for comment from the Tribal Council was not immediately returned. But according to the tribe’s website, roughly 1,300 people lived on the reservation as of February 2017.

“Our numbers have gone up really quickly in a short amount of time, which means that the virus is moving,” Dawna Brown, director of Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic, said Friday in another video briefing with Sampson.

The first case on the reservation was announced April 1.

Of the 20 confirmed cases, 14 — or 70 percent — were in Nixon, though only about 33 percent of the reservation’s population lived in Nixon as of 2017. Four cases were in Sutcliffe and two in Wadsworth. As of Friday, Brown said, there had been no reported COVID-19 deaths on the reservation, and at least one person had recovered from the virus.

On March 16, the Tribal Council declared a state of emergency, and a 10 p.m.-5 a.m curfew was later instituted. The tribe also has banned nontribal members from all recreational activities on the reservation, according to the declaration.

“We tried to warn you guys about moving around, and nobody’s listening,” Sampson said Tuesday in his video update. “I’m astounded by the lack of understanding from everybody out there that’s not adhering to what’s going on around us. All I can say is, people, please, the tribal government has asked you to stay home. Your Tribal Council has voted to put these orders in place.”

Pausing briefly, Sampson shook his head.

“I’m pleading with you people out there,” he said. “This is not a laughing matter; this is not a drill.”

There had been no confirmed cases on the Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation, about 80 miles east of Carson City, as of Friday, according to an update posted to the tribe’s Facebook page.

It was not clear Tuesday whether any members of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The tribe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.