LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska health officials have reported two more COVID-19 deaths in the state, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 98. 

Of the two deaths reported Sunday, one was in Douglas County. 

No information was immediately available on the second death. 

The state is also reporting more confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. 

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the number of confirmed cases in the state increased by more than 80 on Sunday to 8,315. 

The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska health officials have reported two more COVID-19 deaths in the state, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 98. Of the two deaths reported Sunday, one was in Douglas County. No information was immediately available on the second death. The state is also reporting more confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the number of confirmed cases in the state increased by more than 80 on Sunday to 8,315. The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

Two more COVID-19 deaths reported in Nebraska; total now 98

Alliance –The City of Alliance Public Transit will be resuming normal schedules and services. 

&nbsp;Beginning Monday, May 18, buses will run from 6:30 am – 4:30 pm. Monday thru Friday and Sundays from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm by appointment only.

Riders are asked to wear masks and to anticipate longer wait times due to additional cleaning the drivers are required to do. 

&nbsp;Also, if you are sick or have been exposed to someone who is sick please refrain from using our services until any symptoms have cleared.

If you have any questions, please contact Paige Johnson at Public Transit/Public Works at (308) 762-1907.

Alliance –The City of Alliance Public Transit will be resuming normal schedules and services. &nbsp;Beginning Monday, May 18, buses will run from 6:30 am – 4:30 pm. Monday thru Friday and Sundays from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm by appointment only.Riders are asked to wear masks and to anticipate longer wait times due to additional cleaning the drivers are required to do. &nbsp;Also, if you are sick or have been exposed to someone who is sick please refrain from using our services until any symptoms have cleared.If you have any questions, please contact Paige Johnson at Public Transit/Public Works at (308) 762-1907.

Alliance Public Transit updates schedule 

Unified Command confirms the investigation is complete for the Dawes County case announced on May 8. There are no community exposure sites identified. Exposure is defined as at least 10 minutes, less than six feet apart.

All close contacts have been quarantined and are being actively monitored twice daily for fever and respiratory symptoms by public health officials.

There’s still time to sign up for free, drive-thru, COVID-19 testing offered today in Chadron and Gordon. Please use the following link: https://sugeni.us/cExR. If you need assistance signing up, please call 308-262-5764.

o Chadron 9a-11:30a, 355 E Norfolk Avenue: Dawes County Fairground Building

o Gordon 2p-4:30p, 1882 US Hwy 20: Gordon Airport (East of town)

The Box Butte County case has met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to be deemed recovered and is out of isolation.

This case has recovered and is out of isolation

Five have recovered and are out of isolation

10 have recovered and are out of isolation

One case has recovered and is out of isolation

22 have recovered and are out of isolation

Throughout the month of May, we are reminding people to respect the following to keep Nebraska healthy:

· Wash your hands frequently. Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds and sanitize when available.

· Monitor your symptoms. If you experience a cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, chills, muscle pain, or loss of taste or smell call your doctor, clinic, or our 24/7 line at 308-262-5764 before going.

· Socially distance in public and at work. Use the six-foot rule as much as possible.

· Only sit with people from your household when at church. Stay six feet from other households.

· Stay home. Do not take unnecessary trips outside the home. Respect the ten-person limit. Non-essential out-of-state travel is discouraged.

· Shop alone and only shop once a week. Do not take family with you.

· Help kids follow social distancing. Play at home. No group sports. And no playgrounds.

· Help seniors stay at home by shopping for them. Do not visit long-term care facilities.

· Exercise daily at home or with an appropriately socially-distanced activity.

Panhandle Public Health District, Region 21, 22, and 23 Emergency Management, and Scotts Bluff County Health Department are working as a unified command on this evolving situation. Essential updates will be regularly communicated to the public and community partners.

For the most up to date information from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

Panhandle Public Health District is working together to improve the health, safety, and quality of life for all who live, learn, work, and play in the Panhandle. Our vision is that we are a healthier and safer Panhandle Community. Visit our website www.pphd.org.

By PPHDUnified Command confirms the investigation is complete for the Dawes County case announced on May 8. There are no community exposure sites identified. Exposure is defined as at least 10 minutes, less than six feet apart.All close contacts have been quarantined and are being actively monitored twice daily for fever and respiratory symptoms by public health officials.There’s still time to sign up for free, drive-thru, COVID-19 testing offered today in Chadron and Gordon. Please use the following link: https://sugeni.us/cExR. If you need assistance signing up, please call 308-262-5764.· Monday, May 11o Chadron 9a-11:30a, 355 E Norfolk Avenue: Dawes County Fairground Buildingo Gordon 2p-4:30p, 1882 US Hwy 20: Gordon Airport (East of town)The Box Butte County case has met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to be deemed recovered and is out of isolation.March 2-May 11, 2020Positive: 74Recovered: 39• Box Butte County: 1 caseThis case has recovered and is out of isolation• Cheyenne County: 9 casesFive have recovered and are out of isolation• Dawes County: 1 case• Kimball County: 10 Cases10 have recovered and are out of isolation• Morrill County: 9 CasesOne case has recovered and is out of isolation• Scotts Bluff County: 44 Cases22 have recovered and are out of isolationThroughout the month of May, we are reminding people to respect the following to keep Nebraska healthy:· Wear a mask when possible.· Wash your hands frequently. Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds and sanitize when available.· Monitor your symptoms. If you experience a cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, chills, muscle pain, or loss of taste or smell call your doctor, clinic, or our 24/7 line at 308-262-5764 before going.· Socially distance in public and at work. Use the six-foot rule as much as possible.· Only sit with people from your household when at church. Stay six feet from other households.· Stay home. Do not take unnecessary trips outside the home. Respect the ten-person limit. Non-essential out-of-state travel is discouraged.· Shop alone and only shop once a week. Do not take family with you.· Help kids follow social distancing. Play at home. No group sports. And no playgrounds.· Help seniors stay at home by shopping for them. Do not visit long-term care facilities.· Exercise daily at home or with an appropriately socially-distanced activity.Panhandle Public Health District, Region 21, 22, and 23 Emergency Management, and Scotts Bluff County Health Department are working as a unified command on this evolving situation. Essential updates will be regularly communicated to the public and community partners.For the most up to date information from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.Panhandle Public Health District is working together to improve the health, safety, and quality of life for all who live, learn, work, and play in the Panhandle. Our vision is that we are a healthier and safer Panhandle Community. Visit our website www.pphd.org.

Investigation complete for Dawes Co. virus case, Box Butte Co. case recovers

LINCOLN – The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) added hospitalization data to its COVID-19 dashboard. DHHS launched the dashboard in March as an informational resource for Nebraskans. It also provides daily updates to the state's COVID-19 case totals along with other pertinent data. &nbsp;&nbsp;The dashboard is both desktop and mobile friendly and can be found by visiting&nbsp;<a href="http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus">http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus</a>. &nbsp;

The dashboard is one of many valuable COVID-19 resources, including translated materials, on the DHHS coronavirus website. Interested Nebraskans can subscribe on the website and receive an alert via email when new information is posted. As of mid-April, more than 8,900 people had subscribed.

Here's a sample of some of the helpful information you will find at&nbsp;<a href="http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus">http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus</a>:

Information is also available through other routes.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1589210783404.png" alt="Click <a href="https://nebraska.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3JPgNOJTe901lO4CE0MGeMVrY1dzZaCkW_cXK16uuKFgdPF0BTTdCe4Ps#/4213f719a45647bc873ffb58783ffef3">HERE</a> to view the map (screenshot)." />
 <figcaption>Click <a href="https://nebraska.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3JPgNOJTe901lO4CE0MGeMVrY1dzZaCkW_cXK16uuKFgdPF0BTTdCe4Ps#/4213f719a45647bc873ffb58783ffef3">HERE</a> to view the map (screenshot).</figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN – The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) added hospitalization data to its COVID-19 dashboard. DHHS launched the dashboard in March as an informational resource for Nebraskans. It also provides daily updates to the state's COVID-19 case totals along with other pertinent data. &nbsp;&nbsp;The dashboard is both desktop and mobile friendly and can be found by visiting&nbsp;<a href="http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus">http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus</a>. &nbsp;The dashboard is one of many valuable COVID-19 resources, including translated materials, on the DHHS coronavirus website. Interested Nebraskans can subscribe on the website and receive an alert via email when new information is posted. As of mid-April, more than 8,900 people had subscribed.Here's a sample of some of the helpful information you will find at&nbsp;<a href="http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus">http://dhhs.ne.gov/coronavirus</a>:<ol>
 <li>Directed Health Measures (DHM) - All 93 counties in Nebraska are covered by state Directed Health Measures. It's critical that Nebraskans follow these enforceable measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the state. In addition to the state-issued DHM, some local health departments have issued additional restrictions.</li><li>Guidance Documents&nbsp;– An extensive list of downloadable Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs, testing information and executive orders.</li><li>Protect Yourself and Others&nbsp;– Ten actions Nebraskans can be taking now to slow the spread of COVID-19 along with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for individuals, businesses and communities.</li><li>Traveler Recommendations&nbsp;– Recommendations for Nebraskans returning from out-of-state or travelers arriving from out-of-state.</li><li>Nebraska Accommodation Project (NAP)&nbsp;– This program initially offered accommodations to first responders to quarantine at participating hotels in an effort to protect their families from potential exposure. Recently the pilot program expanded to offer space for members of the public who are required to quarantine or isolate because of COVID-19.</li><li>News Releases&nbsp;– Find links to all DHHS COVID-19 news releases and in cooperation with other agencies fighting the coronavirus.</li><li>CDC Information&nbsp;– Get the latest updates from the CDC.</li>
 </ol>Information is also available through other routes.<ol>
 <li>DHHS opened a statewide COVID-19 information line to help answer general questions and share the latest information and resources with Nebraskans to help keep them informed. The number is (402) 552-6645; hours of operation are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Central Time, 7 days a week.</li><li>DHHS will continue to update Nebraskans through the DHHS website and on Facebook&nbsp;and Twitter as we have new information. The CDC's website is also a reliable resource for COVID-19 information -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid19" target="_blank">https://www.cdc.gov/covid19&nbsp;</a>.</li>
 </ol>

DHHS expands COVID-19 dashboard to include hospitalizations 

RAPID CITY, S.D. (Rapid City Journal) — Casinos in Deadwood, South Dakota, are seeing customers after reopening last week during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Deadwood City Commission voted last Monday to allow businesses to reopen if they follow federal, state and local rules for preventing the spread of the coronavirus. 

The vote came after the Deadwood Gaming Association reported March gambling revenue dropped 20 percent compared with March 2019. 

Mayor David Ruth tells the Rapid City Journal that “Deadwood is open.” 

At Cadillac Jack’s, the casino's general manager says 180 employees were called back to work on Thursday. 

South Dakota health officials on Sunday reported 124 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the state's total to 3,517.

 South Dakota's death toll remains at 34.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (Rapid City Journal) — Casinos in Deadwood, South Dakota, are seeing customers after reopening last week during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Deadwood City Commission voted last Monday to allow businesses to reopen if they follow federal, state and local rules for preventing the spread of the coronavirus. The vote came after the Deadwood Gaming Association reported March gambling revenue dropped 20 percent compared with March 2019. Mayor David Ruth tells the Rapid City Journal that “Deadwood is open.” At Cadillac Jack’s, the casino's general manager says 180 employees were called back to work on Thursday. South Dakota health officials on Sunday reported 124 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the state's total to 3,517. South Dakota's death toll remains at 34.

Deadwood casinos seeing visitors after reopening

CHADRON&nbsp; ― Chadron Community Hospital has made the decision to further limit visitation in its hospital and clinics to protect our patients and providers. Starting today, no visitors will be allowed at Chadron Community Hospital and Healthcare facilities.

• Pediatric admissions (only ONE parent/guardian will be permitted)

• Birth patients (only ONE significant other/support person can visit)

• Patients attending appointments at Chadron Community Hospital (only ONE caregiver if the patient is a minor, or the provider requests the patient be accompanied with a companion)

NOTE: Chadron Community Hospital staff will be available to provide assistance at the door.

We encourage family members and friends to use alternative ways to interact with their loved ones, including phone calls, Facetime, Skype and other means. For patients without access to their own technology devices, Chadron Community Hospital will provide assistance.

At the Chadron Community Hospital campus there will only be three entrances open to access the building. Those entrances include the Emergency Room, the Chadron Medical Clinic entrance and the lower level Hospital entrance. During non-clinic hours, the only entrance will be the Emergency Room.

Chadron Community Hospital will continue to screen all patients. Anyone entering the building will be required to wear a mask. If the patient does not have a mask, one will be provided.

Chadron Community Hospital asks anyone in the region who has potentially been exposed to COVID-19 and has a fever, cough, or shortness of breath call 308-747-2466 before coming to Chadron Community Hospital. Healthcare providers will determine if the patient can be cared for at home or if screening is necessary.

Remember, the best way to protect yourself from all respiratory viruses, includes washing your hands frequently with soap and water, avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue then throw the tissue in the trash, stay home when you are sick and clean and disinfect frequently touched objects. 

CHADRON&nbsp; ― Chadron Community Hospital has made the decision to further limit visitation in its hospital and clinics to protect our patients and providers. Starting today, no visitors will be allowed at Chadron Community Hospital and Healthcare facilities.Limited exceptions include:• Pediatric admissions (only ONE parent/guardian will be permitted)• Birth patients (only ONE significant other/support person can visit)• Patients attending appointments at Chadron Community Hospital (only ONE caregiver if the patient is a minor, or the provider requests the patient be accompanied with a companion)NOTE: Chadron Community Hospital staff will be available to provide assistance at the door.We encourage family members and friends to use alternative ways to interact with their loved ones, including phone calls, Facetime, Skype and other means. For patients without access to their own technology devices, Chadron Community Hospital will provide assistance.At the Chadron Community Hospital campus there will only be three entrances open to access the building. Those entrances include the Emergency Room, the Chadron Medical Clinic entrance and the lower level Hospital entrance. During non-clinic hours, the only entrance will be the Emergency Room.Chadron Community Hospital will continue to screen all patients. Anyone entering the building will be required to wear a mask. If the patient does not have a mask, one will be provided.Chadron Community Hospital asks anyone in the region who has potentially been exposed to COVID-19 and has a fever, cough, or shortness of breath call 308-747-2466 before coming to Chadron Community Hospital. Healthcare providers will determine if the patient can be cared for at home or if screening is necessary.Remember, the best way to protect yourself from all respiratory viruses, includes washing your hands frequently with soap and water, avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue then throw the tissue in the trash, stay home when you are sick and clean and disinfect frequently touched objects.

Chadron Community Hospital is further restricting visitation 

By Judy Messersmith, Box Butte County Clerk/Election Commissioner

Due to COVID-19,  voting procedures will be somewhat different this year to minimize the spread of the virus. 

 All voting precincts will be located in the county courthouse building for this election. 

 No one will be voting at the Burkholder Building or at the Hemingford Parish Hall.

   Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., when the voters get to the polls, they will find additional safety measures in place. 

 Masks will be available for the voters and election workers. 

 The courthouse door will have one entrance and one exit. 

 6 foot social distancing will be followed for voting booth placement.

  We will have individual black pens for the voters to keep after they have marked their ballot. 

 Plastic sleeves and booths will be wiped down with disinfectant after each use.

   With the large number of early voting ballots requested, I don't expect a big turnout on Tuesday, but we ask for your patience and we will get everyone taken care of.&nbsp;

By Judy Messersmith, Box Butte County Clerk/Election CommissionerDue to COVID-19, voting procedures will be somewhat different this year to minimize the spread of the virus. All voting precincts will be located in the county courthouse building for this election. No one will be voting at the Burkholder Building or at the Hemingford Parish Hall. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., when the voters get to the polls, they will find additional safety measures in place. Masks will be available for the voters and election workers. The courthouse door will have one entrance and one exit. 6 foot social distancing will be followed for voting booth placement. We will have individual black pens for the voters to keep after they have marked their ballot. Plastic sleeves and booths will be wiped down with disinfectant after each use. With the large number of early voting ballots requested, I don't expect a big turnout on Tuesday, but we ask for your patience and we will get everyone taken care of.&nbsp;

Voting procedures different in Box Butte Co. due to virus

LINCOLN, Neb. (Omaha World-Herald) — Businesses have started reopening in Nebraska, even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to surge, raising concerns amid medical experts. 

Projections had long suggested that the pandemic would peak at the end of April in Nebraska. But the Omaha World-Herald reports that the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center says it appears that cases have only plateaued at best. 

Nebraska had 7,831 confirmed cases as of Saturday, up 641 from Friday. 

The number of deaths increased by two to 92.

LINCOLN, Neb. (Omaha World-Herald) — Businesses have started reopening in Nebraska, even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to surge, raising concerns amid medical experts. Projections had long suggested that the pandemic would peak at the end of April in Nebraska. But the Omaha World-Herald reports that the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center says it appears that cases have only plateaued at best. Nebraska had 7,831 confirmed cases as of Saturday, up 641 from Friday. The number of deaths increased by two to 92.

COVID-19 increases continue in Nebraska as businesses reopen

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a century’s progress in science, 2020 is looking a lot like 1918.

In the years between two lethal pandemics, one the misnamed Spanish flu, the other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19</a>, the world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks.

Yet here we are again, face-masked to the max. And still unable to crush an insidious yet avoidable infectious disease before hundreds of thousands die from it.

As in 1918, people are again hearing hollow assurances at odds with the reality of hospitals and morgues filling up and bank accounts draining. The ancient common sense of quarantining is back. So is quackery: Rub raw onions on your chest, they said in 1918. How about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/7f0a9a77dad8c8722aa54fef45e8667b">disinfectant in your veins</a>&nbsp;now? mused President Donald Trump, drawing gasps instead of laughs over what he weakly tried to pass off as a joke.

In 1918, no one had a vaccine, treatment or cure for the great flu pandemic as it ravaged the world and killed more than 50 million people. No one has any of that for the coronavirus, either.

Modern science quickly identified&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak">today’s new coronavirus</a>, mapped its genetic code and developed a diagnostic test, tapping knowledge no one had in 1918. That has given people more of a fighting chance to stay out of harm’s way, at least in countries that deployed tests quickly, which the U.S. didn’t.

But the ways to avoid getting sick and what to do when sick are little changed. The failure of U.S. presidents to take the threat seriously from the start also joins past to present.

Trump all but declared victory before infection took root in his country and he’s delivered a stream of misinformation ever since. President Woodrow Wilson’s principal failure was his silence.

Not once, historians say, did Wilson publicly speak about a disease that was killing Americans grotesquely and in huge numbers, even though he contracted it himself and was never the same after. Wilson fixated on America’s parallel fight in World War I like “a dog with a bone,” says John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza.”

The suspected ground zero of the Spanish flu ranges from Kansas to China. But it was clear to U.S. officials even in 1918 that it didn’t start in Spain.

The pandemic took on Spain’s name only because its free press ambitiously reported the devastation in the disease’s early 1918 wave while government officials and a complicit press in countries at war — the U.S. among them — played it down in a time of jingoism, censorship and denial.

Like COVID-19, the 1918 pandemic came from a respiratory virus that jumped from animals to people, was transmitted the same way, and had similar pathology, Barry said by email. Social distancing, hand-washing and masks were leading control measures then and now.

<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-opinion-flashback-1918-flu-pandemic-timeline-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">Medical advice from then&nbsp;</a>also resonates today: “If you get it, stay at home, rest in bed, keep warm, drink hot drinks and stay quiet until the symptoms are past,” said Dr. John Dill Robertson, Chicago health commissioner in 1918. “Then continue to be careful, for the greatest danger is from pneumonia or some kindred disease after the influenza is gone.”

In the manner of the day, there just had to be a catchy rhyme in circulation, too: “Cover up each cough and sneeze. If you don’t you’ll spread disease.”

But there were also marked differences between the viruses of 1918 and 2020. The Spanish flu was particularly dangerous to healthy people aged 20 to 40 — the prime generation of military service — paradoxically because of their vibrant immune systems.

When such people got infected, their antibodies went after the virus like soldiers spilling from the trenches of Europe’s killing fields.

“The immune system was throwing every weapon it had at the virus,” Barry said. “The battlefield was the lung. The lung was being destroyed in that battle.”

Young soldiers and sailors&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm" target="_blank">massed at military camps</a>&nbsp;in the U.S., sailed for Europe on ships stuffed to the gunwales with humanity, fought side by side in the trenches and came home in victory to adoring crowds. The toll was enormous, on them and the people they infected. The Spanish flu could just as easily have been called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy flu instead. Or the German or British flu, for that matter.

Among those who died in the pandemic was Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather. Among those who contracted it and recovered were the wartime leaders of Britain and Germany as well as of the United States, British and Spanish kings and the future U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, when he was assistant Navy secretary.

But the toll was heavier on average people and the poor, crowded in tenements, street cars and sweaty factories.

They could not all live by the words of the 1918 U.S. surgeon general, Rupert Blue: “Keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible. ... The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be overemphasized. ... Make every possible effort to breath as much pure air as possible.”

An estimated 675,000 Americans died in the pandemic, which is thought to have infected one-third of the global population.&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Tracking by Johns Hopkins University</a>&nbsp;shows the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 250,000 people globally, more than 68,000 in the United States.

In 1918, the surgeon general noted in a handbill that “a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.” The warning is just as applicable to the coronavirus, especially as scientists learned large numbers of people with COVID-19 may spread it despite no obvious symptoms. Exactly how often the new virus kills can’t be determined without better counts of the infected; some estimates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291398/" target="_blank">put the 1918 flu’s death rate at 2.5%.</a>

Blue’s public notice also warned people to avoid charlatans and only get medicine from doctors.

Physicians, though, didn’t always know what they were doing. Medical journals at the time describe a rash of unusual treatments, some in the league of Trump’s amateur theories about disinfectant, blasts of lights and an unapproved drug that has both potential benefits and risks.

One 1918-era doctor recommended that people sniff a boric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) powder to rinse out nasal passages. Others prescribed quinine, strychnine and a poisonous garden plant called Digitalis to help circulation, as well as drugs derived from iodine for “internal disinfection,” according to Laura Spinney, who wrote the 2017 book “Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World.”

Popular theories spread that warming your feet would prevent infection, or gobbling brown sugar, or getting the onion rubdown. A “clean heart” was one supposed preventive, though it is not clear whether that meant the organ or the heart of love.

“There was no Tony Fauci back then,” Barry said in a remote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9104/" target="_blank">Library of Congress interview</a>&nbsp;in April.

We have Fauci now — a federal immunologist who has been regarded as the truth-teller in White House briefings, singularly immune to Trump’s positive spin and falsehoods. Plus, we know so much more than people did in 1918.

Yet we’re still hearing lots of Dark Ages nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists have blamed COVID-19 on the development of 5G networks, just as they say radio waves caused the 1918 flu. Arsonists recently torched more than a dozen British cell towers after that falsehood circulated.

Over the months of this pandemic, The Associated Press has debunked a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/Fact-checking">series of bogus remedies&nbsp;</a>that spread on Facebook, Twitter and the like. No, blasting hot air up your nose from a hair dryer won’t protect you. Nor will drinking tonic water, eating high-alkaline foods, stuffing antibiotic ointment up your nose, downing vodka or any home elixir.

No, it’s not true that if you can’t hold your breath very long, you have COVID-19. Or that a vaccine from a lab only works on a disease created by a lab.

Social distancing has not come with social-media distancing. Over a century of science, we haven’t gone back to the future, but ahead to the past.

In September 1918, as the Spanish flu’s second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., Philadelphia’s public health chief disregarded advisers and let a massive war-bond parade proceed through downtown. The H1N1 virus raced through the masses in what has been called the world’s deadliest parade. As officials insisted there was nothing to be alarmed about, people were seeing neighbors sicken and die with astonishing speed and mass graves being dug.

“It’s just the flu” had worn thin as the mantra of officialdom.

Late that November, sirens wailed in San Francisco to sound the all-clear after six weeks of lockdown and tell people they could remove their masks. San Francisco, like many cities in the West, had been largely spared the first wave and spent the interval preparing for Round 2, mandating masks and jailing people who didn’t comply.

They had a rhyme for that, too, of course: “Obey the laws, and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.”

<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/influenza-san-francisco/" target="_blank">The precautions paid off&nbsp;</a>with a death rate lower than in afflicted cities elsewhere. But the city relaxed too soon.

In December, thousands of new cases erupted. A wave spilling into the new year was underway. San Francisco’s death toll mounted by more than 1,000. It was the last lashing by the Spanish flu, and a less lethal one.

The brutal lessons of 1918 and 1919? To Barry, who was enlisted 15 years ago in a Bush administration drive to prepare all levels of government for pandemics, they are to respond early, relax cautiously, tell people the truth.

Instead he has seen denial followed by a chaotic federal response and leadership vacuum as Washington and the states compete for the same medical essentials and now move fitfully toward reopening.

“Now we have plans, even war-gamed the plans, spent billions preparing for just what is happening, federal agencies have been tasked to handle all these things, and we get ... next to nothing,” he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a century’s progress in science, 2020 is looking a lot like 1918.In the years between two lethal pandemics, one the misnamed Spanish flu, the other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19</a>, the world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks.Yet here we are again, face-masked to the max. And still unable to crush an insidious yet avoidable infectious disease before hundreds of thousands die from it.As in 1918, people are again hearing hollow assurances at odds with the reality of hospitals and morgues filling up and bank accounts draining. The ancient common sense of quarantining is back. So is quackery: Rub raw onions on your chest, they said in 1918. How about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/7f0a9a77dad8c8722aa54fef45e8667b">disinfectant in your veins</a>&nbsp;now? mused President Donald Trump, drawing gasps instead of laughs over what he weakly tried to pass off as a joke.In 1918, no one had a vaccine, treatment or cure for the great flu pandemic as it ravaged the world and killed more than 50 million people. No one has any of that for the coronavirus, either.Modern science quickly identified&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak">today’s new coronavirus</a>, mapped its genetic code and developed a diagnostic test, tapping knowledge no one had in 1918. That has given people more of a fighting chance to stay out of harm’s way, at least in countries that deployed tests quickly, which the U.S. didn’t.But the ways to avoid getting sick and what to do when sick are little changed. The failure of U.S. presidents to take the threat seriously from the start also joins past to present.Trump all but declared victory before infection took root in his country and he’s delivered a stream of misinformation ever since. President Woodrow Wilson’s principal failure was his silence.Not once, historians say, did Wilson publicly speak about a disease that was killing Americans grotesquely and in huge numbers, even though he contracted it himself and was never the same after. Wilson fixated on America’s parallel fight in World War I like “a dog with a bone,” says John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza.”The suspected ground zero of the Spanish flu ranges from Kansas to China. But it was clear to U.S. officials even in 1918 that it didn’t start in Spain.The pandemic took on Spain’s name only because its free press ambitiously reported the devastation in the disease’s early 1918 wave while government officials and a complicit press in countries at war — the U.S. among them — played it down in a time of jingoism, censorship and denial.Like COVID-19, the 1918 pandemic came from a respiratory virus that jumped from animals to people, was transmitted the same way, and had similar pathology, Barry said by email. Social distancing, hand-washing and masks were leading control measures then and now.<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-opinion-flashback-1918-flu-pandemic-timeline-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">Medical advice from then&nbsp;</a>also resonates today: “If you get it, stay at home, rest in bed, keep warm, drink hot drinks and stay quiet until the symptoms are past,” said Dr. John Dill Robertson, Chicago health commissioner in 1918. “Then continue to be careful, for the greatest danger is from pneumonia or some kindred disease after the influenza is gone.”In the manner of the day, there just had to be a catchy rhyme in circulation, too: “Cover up each cough and sneeze. If you don’t you’ll spread disease.”But there were also marked differences between the viruses of 1918 and 2020. The Spanish flu was particularly dangerous to healthy people aged 20 to 40 — the prime generation of military service — paradoxically because of their vibrant immune systems.When such people got infected, their antibodies went after the virus like soldiers spilling from the trenches of Europe’s killing fields.“The immune system was throwing every weapon it had at the virus,” Barry said. “The battlefield was the lung. The lung was being destroyed in that battle.”Young soldiers and sailors&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm" target="_blank">massed at military camps</a>&nbsp;in the U.S., sailed for Europe on ships stuffed to the gunwales with humanity, fought side by side in the trenches and came home in victory to adoring crowds. The toll was enormous, on them and the people they infected. The Spanish flu could just as easily have been called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy flu instead. Or the German or British flu, for that matter.Among those who died in the pandemic was Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather. Among those who contracted it and recovered were the wartime leaders of Britain and Germany as well as of the United States, British and Spanish kings and the future U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, when he was assistant Navy secretary.But the toll was heavier on average people and the poor, crowded in tenements, street cars and sweaty factories.They could not all live by the words of the 1918 U.S. surgeon general, Rupert Blue: “Keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible. ... The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be overemphasized. ... Make every possible effort to breath as much pure air as possible.”An estimated 675,000 Americans died in the pandemic, which is thought to have infected one-third of the global population.&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Tracking by Johns Hopkins University</a>&nbsp;shows the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 250,000 people globally, more than 68,000 in the United States.___BAD SCIENCEIn 1918, the surgeon general noted in a handbill that “a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.” The warning is just as applicable to the coronavirus, especially as scientists learned large numbers of people with COVID-19 may spread it despite no obvious symptoms. Exactly how often the new virus kills can’t be determined without better counts of the infected; some estimates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291398/" target="_blank">put the 1918 flu’s death rate at 2.5%.</a>Blue’s public notice also warned people to avoid charlatans and only get medicine from doctors.Physicians, though, didn’t always know what they were doing. Medical journals at the time describe a rash of unusual treatments, some in the league of Trump’s amateur theories about disinfectant, blasts of lights and an unapproved drug that has both potential benefits and risks.One 1918-era doctor recommended that people sniff a boric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) powder to rinse out nasal passages. Others prescribed quinine, strychnine and a poisonous garden plant called Digitalis to help circulation, as well as drugs derived from iodine for “internal disinfection,” according to Laura Spinney, who wrote the 2017 book “Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World.”Popular theories spread that warming your feet would prevent infection, or gobbling brown sugar, or getting the onion rubdown. A “clean heart” was one supposed preventive, though it is not clear whether that meant the organ or the heart of love.“There was no Tony Fauci back then,” Barry said in a remote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-9104/" target="_blank">Library of Congress interview</a>&nbsp;in April.We have Fauci now — a federal immunologist who has been regarded as the truth-teller in White House briefings, singularly immune to Trump’s positive spin and falsehoods. Plus, we know so much more than people did in 1918.Yet we’re still hearing lots of Dark Ages nonsense.Conspiracy theorists have blamed COVID-19 on the development of 5G networks, just as they say radio waves caused the 1918 flu. Arsonists recently torched more than a dozen British cell towers after that falsehood circulated.Over the months of this pandemic, The Associated Press has debunked a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/Fact-checking">series of bogus remedies&nbsp;</a>that spread on Facebook, Twitter and the like. No, blasting hot air up your nose from a hair dryer won’t protect you. Nor will drinking tonic water, eating high-alkaline foods, stuffing antibiotic ointment up your nose, downing vodka or any home elixir.No, it’s not true that if you can’t hold your breath very long, you have COVID-19. Or that a vaccine from a lab only works on a disease created by a lab.Social distancing has not come with social-media distancing. Over a century of science, we haven’t gone back to the future, but ahead to the past.___LESSONS OF 1918 (and 1919)In September 1918, as the Spanish flu’s second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., Philadelphia’s public health chief disregarded advisers and let a massive war-bond parade proceed through downtown. The H1N1 virus raced through the masses in what has been called the world’s deadliest parade. As officials insisted there was nothing to be alarmed about, people were seeing neighbors sicken and die with astonishing speed and mass graves being dug.“It’s just the flu” had worn thin as the mantra of officialdom.Late that November, sirens wailed in San Francisco to sound the all-clear after six weeks of lockdown and tell people they could remove their masks. San Francisco, like many cities in the West, had been largely spared the first wave and spent the interval preparing for Round 2, mandating masks and jailing people who didn’t comply.They had a rhyme for that, too, of course: “Obey the laws, and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.”<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/influenza-san-francisco/" target="_blank">The precautions paid off&nbsp;</a>with a death rate lower than in afflicted cities elsewhere. But the city relaxed too soon.In December, thousands of new cases erupted. A wave spilling into the new year was underway. San Francisco’s death toll mounted by more than 1,000. It was the last lashing by the Spanish flu, and a less lethal one.The brutal lessons of 1918 and 1919? To Barry, who was enlisted 15 years ago in a Bush administration drive to prepare all levels of government for pandemics, they are to respond early, relax cautiously, tell people the truth.Instead he has seen denial followed by a chaotic federal response and leadership vacuum as Washington and the states compete for the same medical essentials and now move fitfully toward reopening.“Now we have plans, even war-gamed the plans, spent billions preparing for just what is happening, federal agencies have been tasked to handle all these things, and we get ... next to nothing,” he said.Not even a jingle.

Virus-afflicted 2020 looks like 1918 despite science's march

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence was self-isolating Sunday after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, but he planned to return to the White House on Monday.

An administration official said Pence was voluntarily keeping his distance from other people in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 since his exposure but was following the advice of medical officials.

His action came after three of the nation’s top scientists took their own protective steps following possible exposure to a White House staffer infected by the coronavirus.

“Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine,” spokesman Devin O’Malley said Sunday. “Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow.”

Pence has been at home since returning to Washington from a day trip to Iowa on Friday and did not appear at President Donald Trump’s meeting with military leaders Saturday at the White House. Pence was informed of the aide’s positive test shortly before departing for that trip.

An official initially said Pence planned to continue working from home, before Pence’s office clarified that he planned to work from the White House on Monday. It was not immediately clear how Pence’s steps to self-isolate would impact his professional or public engagements.

Pence has led the White House coronavirus task force for more than two months. Top officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the virus are Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn.

Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.

A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance where a person in close proximity to the president at the White House had tested positive.

After Miller was identified as having tested positive, Trump said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.

The three other task force members have indicated varying plans for dealing with their exposure. None has announced testing positive for the virus and, taking into account what has been described as limited exposure to the infected person, are considered at relatively low risk for infection.

Fauci’s institute said he was “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks.

The three officials were expected to testify by videoconference before a Senate health committee on Tuesday. On Sunday night, the office of the chairman of the committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., announced that the senator would be self-quarantining in Tennessee for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Alexander too will participate in the hearing by videoconference.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586429670186.png" alt="Vice President Mike Pence answers questions during a Coronavirus Task Force briefing last month-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>Vice President Mike Pence answers questions during a Coronavirus Task Force briefing last month-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence was self-isolating Sunday after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, but he planned to return to the White House on Monday.An administration official said Pence was voluntarily keeping his distance from other people in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 since his exposure but was following the advice of medical officials.His action came after three of the nation’s top scientists took their own protective steps following possible exposure to a White House staffer infected by the coronavirus.“Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine,” spokesman Devin O’Malley said Sunday. “Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow.”Pence has been at home since returning to Washington from a day trip to Iowa on Friday and did not appear at President Donald Trump’s meeting with military leaders Saturday at the White House. Pence was informed of the aide’s positive test shortly before departing for that trip.An official initially said Pence planned to continue working from home, before Pence’s office clarified that he planned to work from the White House on Monday. It was not immediately clear how Pence’s steps to self-isolate would impact his professional or public engagements.Pence has led the White House coronavirus task force for more than two months. Top officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the virus are Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn.Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance where a person in close proximity to the president at the White House had tested positive.After Miller was identified as having tested positive, Trump said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.The three other task force members have indicated varying plans for dealing with their exposure. None has announced testing positive for the virus and, taking into account what has been described as limited exposure to the infected person, are considered at relatively low risk for infection.Fauci’s institute said he was “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks.The three officials were expected to testify by videoconference before a Senate health committee on Tuesday. On Sunday night, the office of the chairman of the committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., announced that the senator would be self-quarantining in Tennessee for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Alexander too will participate in the hearing by videoconference.<a href="https://bttrack.com/Click/Native?data=AFVDc9wbmOGpfzAhFqm7EIQtJ_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" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PAI</a>

Vice Pres. expected back at work after exposure to infected aide

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Health officials say the number of coronavirus cases in Nebraska has topped 8,000, and four more deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.

 The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the number of coronavirus cases in the state increased by 403 Saturday to 8,234. 

The number of deaths related to the virus outbreak increased to 96. 

 One of the new deaths was a Douglas County man in his 60s who did not have any underlying health conditions.

 Details of the other three deaths weren’t immediately available. 

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Health officials say the number of coronavirus cases in Nebraska has topped 8,000, and four more deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the number of coronavirus cases in the state increased by 403 Saturday to 8,234. The number of deaths related to the virus outbreak increased to 96. One of the new deaths was a Douglas County man in his 60s who did not have any underlying health conditions. Details of the other three deaths weren’t immediately available. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks.

Nebraska reports 8,234 coronavirus cases, 4 new deaths

BY NICHOLAS K.&nbsp;GERANIOS, Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — When the Kalispel Tribe of Indians closed its casino as the coronavirus took hold in Washington state, it essentially shut down its economy.

That difficult choice has played out nationwide as some 500 Native American casinos have voluntarily closed during the pandemic, often taking away tribes' main source of income in an effort to protect people's health in communities with limited medical resources.

The U.S. government authorized $8 billion for tribes in a coronavirus relief package in March, when most casinos closed, but it's been slow to distribute the money, deepening the woes on reservations.

“We can't fund any programs without the casino" — no health care, education, law enforcement or fire protection, said Phil Haugen, chief operating officer of the Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority.

Its Northern Quest Casino near Spokane closed for nearly two months, costing the tribe millions of dollars. But with restrictions starting to loosen nationwide, the casino reopened Tuesday with limits on the number of customers, frequent cleaning, and fewer slot machines and chairs at table games to ensure social distancing.

While other Native American-owned casinos have reopened or plan to in coming weeks, most are still closed. That's also forced layoffs and furloughs among the more than 1 million people working for tribes, many of them in casinos.

Furloughed workers are getting by with unemployment benefits and health coverage that many casinos kept in place, said John DelMonte, president of UAW Local 2121, a union representing 1,200 card dealers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut">Connecticut</a>.

“We want to get back to work,'' said DelMonte, a casino employee.

While the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation says it's losing millions of dollars a week, protecting workers is paramount. DelMonte said the tribe is listening to state officials as it decides when to reopen.

“Everybody is taking this pretty serious. That's a good thing,'' he said. “To open and close again would be terrible. Better safe than sorry.''

It's not clear when Foxwoods or the Mohegan Sun casino, also in Connecticut, will be back in business. The state plans to start easing coronavirus restrictions on May 20.

More than 5,000 employees at the casino complex owned by the Mohegan Tribe — nearly the entire workforce — have been furloughed but kept their health benefits, casino president Jeff Hamilton said.

He did not have a firm number on financial losses, “but we’re in an environment where there’s no revenue."

“I don’t know that you ever make up lost revenue, and I think the concern is that ‘How is business impacted for the foreseeable future?'" Hamilton said. “Because you put an open sign up, doesn’t mean that everything is back to normal.”

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oklahoma">Oklahoma</a>, many tribal governments that shut down casinos in mid-March kept paying employees. The Cherokee Nation said it’s costing the tribe $30 million to $40 million a month to pay salaries and expenses while casinos and other businesses are shuttered.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-mexico">New Mexico</a>, Native American-owned casinos that provide $820 million in annual revenue to 14 tribes have been shut down.

“I know for a fact that brings into question the economic stability of those tribes that have gaming operations,” said Democratic state Rep. Derrick Lente, a tribal member from the Sandia Pueblo, which has shuttered its casino on the outskirts of Albuquerque.

While corporations or billionaires own casinos in places like Las Vegas, tribes are sovereign nations that operate them under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. The law was intended to help impoverished tribes build a sustainable economy.

It's difficult to find accurate numbers for casino revenue and the programs it supports because tribes generally don't give that information. Tribal gambling operations closed about two months ago, so the effects are just starting to be felt.

However, a team of Harvard researchers recently released preliminary results of a study on the pandemic's impact on the 574 federally recognized tribes. The report said tribes initially closed all their casinos, spanning 29 states, and many non-gambling businesses.

“In the wake of these closures, tribes are facing massive layoffs ... dipping into hard‐earned assets and building up debt,'' the researchers wrote.

In Washington state, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians told members it only has enough money to fund benefits and services through the end of June. The Tacoma-based tribe runs two large casinos, where 85% of employees had been laid off or furloughed.

On the other side of the state, the tiny Kalispel Tribe struggled for decades to eke out a living on the small, isolated reservation near the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/idaho">Idaho</a>&nbsp;border before building the casino to have “some sort of economy,'' Haugen said.

The business allowed the tribe to open a wellness center that's dramatically improved the life expectancy of members, said Nick Pierre, general manager of the casino. It employs tribal members and others and funds language programs and a facility for elders.

“There’s not an entity on the Kalispel Tribe’s reservation that hasn’t been positively impacted by casino revenues since Northern Quest opened in 2000,” said Curt Holmes, a Tribal Council member.

BY NICHOLAS K.&nbsp;GERANIOS, Associated PressSPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — When the Kalispel Tribe of Indians closed its casino as the coronavirus took hold in Washington state, it essentially shut down its economy.That difficult choice has played out nationwide as some 500 Native American casinos have voluntarily closed during the pandemic, often taking away tribes' main source of income in an effort to protect people's health in communities with limited medical resources.The U.S. government authorized $8 billion for tribes in a coronavirus relief package in March, when most casinos closed, but it's been slow to distribute the money, deepening the woes on reservations.“We can't fund any programs without the casino" — no health care, education, law enforcement or fire protection, said Phil Haugen, chief operating officer of the Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority.Its Northern Quest Casino near Spokane closed for nearly two months, costing the tribe millions of dollars. But with restrictions starting to loosen nationwide, the casino reopened Tuesday with limits on the number of customers, frequent cleaning, and fewer slot machines and chairs at table games to ensure social distancing.While other Native American-owned casinos have reopened or plan to in coming weeks, most are still closed. That's also forced layoffs and furloughs among the more than 1 million people working for tribes, many of them in casinos.Furloughed workers are getting by with unemployment benefits and health coverage that many casinos kept in place, said John DelMonte, president of UAW Local 2121, a union representing 1,200 card dealers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut">Connecticut</a>.“We want to get back to work,'' said DelMonte, a casino employee.While the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation says it's losing millions of dollars a week, protecting workers is paramount. DelMonte said the tribe is listening to state officials as it decides when to reopen.“Everybody is taking this pretty serious. That's a good thing,'' he said. “To open and close again would be terrible. Better safe than sorry.''It's not clear when Foxwoods or the Mohegan Sun casino, also in Connecticut, will be back in business. The state plans to start easing coronavirus restrictions on May 20.More than 5,000 employees at the casino complex owned by the Mohegan Tribe — nearly the entire workforce — have been furloughed but kept their health benefits, casino president Jeff Hamilton said.He did not have a firm number on financial losses, “but we’re in an environment where there’s no revenue."“I don’t know that you ever make up lost revenue, and I think the concern is that ‘How is business impacted for the foreseeable future?'" Hamilton said. “Because you put an open sign up, doesn’t mean that everything is back to normal.”In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oklahoma">Oklahoma</a>, many tribal governments that shut down casinos in mid-March kept paying employees. The Cherokee Nation said it’s costing the tribe $30 million to $40 million a month to pay salaries and expenses while casinos and other businesses are shuttered.In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-mexico">New Mexico</a>, Native American-owned casinos that provide $820 million in annual revenue to 14 tribes have been shut down.“I know for a fact that brings into question the economic stability of those tribes that have gaming operations,” said Democratic state Rep. Derrick Lente, a tribal member from the Sandia Pueblo, which has shuttered its casino on the outskirts of Albuquerque.While corporations or billionaires own casinos in places like Las Vegas, tribes are sovereign nations that operate them under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. The law was intended to help impoverished tribes build a sustainable economy.It's difficult to find accurate numbers for casino revenue and the programs it supports because tribes generally don't give that information. Tribal gambling operations closed about two months ago, so the effects are just starting to be felt.However, a team of Harvard researchers recently released preliminary results of a study on the pandemic's impact on the 574 federally recognized tribes. The report said tribes initially closed all their casinos, spanning 29 states, and many non-gambling businesses.“In the wake of these closures, tribes are facing massive layoffs ... dipping into hard‐earned assets and building up debt,'' the researchers wrote.In Washington state, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians told members it only has enough money to fund benefits and services through the end of June. The Tacoma-based tribe runs two large casinos, where 85% of employees had been laid off or furloughed.On the other side of the state, the tiny Kalispel Tribe struggled for decades to eke out a living on the small, isolated reservation near the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/idaho">Idaho</a>&nbsp;border before building the casino to have “some sort of economy,'' Haugen said.The business allowed the tribe to open a wellness center that's dramatically improved the life expectancy of members, said Nick Pierre, general manager of the casino. It employs tribal members and others and funds language programs and a facility for elders.“There’s not an entity on the Kalispel Tribe’s reservation that hasn’t been positively impacted by casino revenues since Northern Quest opened in 2000,” said Curt Holmes, a Tribal Council member.

Shutdown of tribal casinos deals blow to Indian Country

Unified Command confirms one new case for COVID-19 in Cheyenne County. &nbsp;A male in his 30s is a close contact of a previously positive case. 

The investigation is complete, all close contacts will be quarantined and actively monitored twice daily for fever and respiratory symptoms by public health officials. 

There’s still time to sign up for free, drive-thru, COVID-19 testing this weekend. Please use the following link:&nbsp;https://sugeni.us/cExR.&nbsp;Time slots are available 48 hours before the testing date. If you need assistance signing up, please call 308-262-5764.

It will be offered in the following locations:

Bridgeport 9a-11:30a, 705 M Street: 21st Century Training Center

Alliance 2p-4:30p,&nbsp;1621 E Kansas St: WNCC Powerline Construction &amp; Maintenance Lab

Chadron 9a-11:30a,&nbsp;355 E Norfolk Avenue: Dawes County Fairground Building

Gordon 2p-4:30p, 1882 US Hwy 20: Gordon Airport (East of town)

Wash your hands frequently. Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds and sanitize when available.

Monitor your symptoms. If you experience a cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, chills, muscle pain, or loss of taste or smell call your doctor, clinic, or our 24/7 line at 308-262-5764 before going.

Socially distance in public and at work. Use the six-foot rule as much as possible.

Only sit with people from your household when at church. Stay six feet from other households.

Stay home.&nbsp;Do not take unnecessary trips outside the home.&nbsp;Respect the ten-person limit. Non-essential out-of-state travel is discouraged.

Shop alone and only shop once a week. &nbsp;Do not take family with you.

Help kids follow social distancing. Play at home. No group sports. And no playgrounds.

Help seniors stay at home by shopping for them. &nbsp;Do not visit long-term care facilities.

Exercise daily at home or with an appropriately socially-distanced activity.

By PPHDUnified Command confirms one new case for COVID-19 in Cheyenne County. &nbsp;A male in his 30s is a close contact of a previously positive case. The investigation is complete, all close contacts will be quarantined and actively monitored twice daily for fever and respiratory symptoms by public health officials. There’s still time to sign up for free, drive-thru, COVID-19 testing this weekend. Please use the following link:&nbsp;https://sugeni.us/cExR.&nbsp;Time slots are available 48 hours before the testing date. If you need assistance signing up, please call 308-262-5764.It will be offered in the following locations:Sunday, May 10Bridgeport 9a-11:30a, 705 M Street: 21st Century Training CenterAlliance 2p-4:30p,&nbsp;1621 E Kansas St: WNCC Powerline Construction &amp; Maintenance LabMonday, May 11&nbsp;Chadron 9a-11:30a,&nbsp;355 E Norfolk Avenue: Dawes County Fairground BuildingGordon 2p-4:30p, 1882 US Hwy 20: Gordon Airport (East of town)March 2-May 9, 2020Positive: 74Recovered: 38Box Butte County: 1 caseCheyenne County: 9 casesFive have recovered and are out of isolationDawes County: 1 caseKimball County: 10 Cases10 have recovered and are out of isolationMorrill County: 9 CasesOne case has recovered and is out of isolationScotts Bluff County: 44 Cases22 have recovered and are out of isolationThroughout the month of May, we are reminding people to respect the following to keep Nebraska healthy:Wear a mask when possible.Wash your hands frequently. Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds and sanitize when available.Monitor your symptoms. If you experience a cough, fever, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, chills, muscle pain, or loss of taste or smell call your doctor, clinic, or our 24/7 line at 308-262-5764 before going.Socially distance in public and at work. Use the six-foot rule as much as possible.Only sit with people from your household when at church. Stay six feet from other households.Stay home.&nbsp;Do not take unnecessary trips outside the home.&nbsp;Respect the ten-person limit. Non-essential out-of-state travel is discouraged.Shop alone and only shop once a week. &nbsp;Do not take family with you. Help kids follow social distancing. Play at home. No group sports. And no playgrounds.Help seniors stay at home by shopping for them. &nbsp;Do not visit long-term care facilities. Exercise daily at home or with an appropriately socially-distanced activity. Panhandle Public Health District, Region 21, 22, and 23 Emergency Management, and Scotts Bluff County Health Department are working as a unified command on this evolving situation. Essential updates will be regularly communicated to the public and community partners. For the most up to date information from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.Panhandle Public Health District is working together to improve the health, safety, and quality of life for all who live, learn, work, and play in the Panhandle. &nbsp;Our vision is that we are a healthier and safer Panhandle Community. Visit our website www.pphd.org.

Coronavirus Update