Sioux Tribe Rejects Governor's Call to Remove Checkpoints; Nearly 1 In 3 Deaths Involve Nursing Homes
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Traffic and concerns and whether supplies for example can get through, medical personnel can get through, but the tribe has said, of course, we are going to let trucks through. We've been watching them just wave people through. But for the most part what happens is someone pulls up to this checkpoint, a couple of people from the nation go up to them and they say, you know, where have you been? They ask for information. They ask whether or not they have some symptoms, whether they have fever, and this is really about contact tracing, Jake. Because what they don't want to happen is that they have an explosion of cases in and on the reservation. Why is that? For about 12,000 residents here there are only eight available hospital beds at the hospital here and there is no ICU. So, the closest ICU, the closest hospital that has all of the things you would need for someone with a severe case of COVID-19 is about three hours away. We talked to the chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and he told us, look, we are in dire straits if this COVID-19 gets into our community and starts spreading fast.</s>HAROLD FRAZIER, CHAIRMAN, CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX: On behalf of our people, we have to maintain them checkpoints and continue to do the things that we're doing until it's safe.</s>SIDNER: You're going to keep those checkpoints?</s>FRAZIER: Yes.</s>SIDNER: No matter what the governor or the state tries to do?</s>FRAZIER: No matter what.</s>SIDNER: No matter what, he said. Even if they are taken to court or something more. He said he and the Oglala Tribe are going to stand firm on this because they feel that they are simply protecting their people and they don't expect that if they do get hit that they're going to get a whole lot of help from anywhere else either -- Jake.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And Sarah, this battle is ramping up as we're learning just how badly the pandemic is hitting Native American tribes across the country.</s>SIDNER: Yes, here it's interesting. They only have one case, they were able to track it by the way right here at a checkpoint. But -- and you're seeing the checkpoint in action right behind me -- but the Navajo Nation having a much more difficult time. They are really being hit hard. They have one of the highest cases per capita in the nation, more than many other states. And to deal with this sort of thing when you don't have the resources. We've seen what has happened for example in New York. Imagine a scenario similar to that in a place where you have very few resources, you just simply get overwhelmed very quickly. Doctors Without Borders are now going into the Navajo Nation trying to help them out -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Sara Sidner in South Dakota, thank you so much. And we should note, we did ask South Dakota Governor Noem to come on our air to discuss this issue. Her office did not respond to our request. You may have seen this image after it went viral over the weekend. It's a United Airlines flight packed with passengers. The company said the jet was more full because of the volunteer medical staff on board. It's just one example of crowded gatherings happening as the nation begins to reopen. CNN's Erica Hill is in the virus epicenter in New York City. And Erica, there are still 20,000 new cases of coronavirus a day in the United States.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's what we keep hearing from officials especially here in New York as we hear daily from Governor Andrew Cuomo. A reminder that while numbers may be going down and while phased reopening is beginning across the country and even soon here in New York state, the virus is not gone. The virus dictates the timeline and the virus will be here for some time. You mentioned that United Flight, that packed United flight, Dr. Ethan Weiss posting a picture. He was one of a number of one of health care professionals who were returning to California. He had been volunteering at hospitals here in New York and was seemingly troubled when he saw how many people were on that flight, noting people were scared and shocked. United in a statement said in response they've overhauled the cleaning and safety procedures and implemented a new boarding and deplaning process to promote social distancing, noting specifically that that flight to San Francisco as you pointed out has an additional 25 medical professionals on board who were flying for free to volunteer for their time in New York. The doctor did thank United for what it was doing for the folks on board and for flying health care professionals across the country but also said he didn't plan to be flying again any time soon.</s>TAPPER: And Erica, the death toll in the United States in the next few minutes is going to surpass 80,000. One in three of the deaths is a nursing home resident or worker, according to a "New York Times" analysis.</s>SIDNER: Yes, that is right. The "New York Times" crunched their own data base of numbers and that's what they found. In fact they found that while I believe it's 11 percent of the cases -- I'm just checking my numbers to make sure I have this correct -- in the country, have happened in long-term care facilities. As you point out it is one in three of deaths. We saw this from the very beginning when we saw that cluster outside of Seattle in Kirkland, Washington at the Life Care Center facility there. There have been issues at nursing homes across the country, frankly. In New Jersey the governor brought the National Guard into some veteran homes there, issues at veterans' homes in Massachusetts as well as concern grows about the most vulnerable people in our communities -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: And Erica, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said today that the state can, quote, intelligently prepare for reopening coming up on Friday. What does he say that will, should look like?</s>HILL: So, it will actually -- for parts of the state, parts of this state will be able to open everything on Friday. So, don't get too excited. But let me just let you know what the risk of those are. Low risk businesses and recreational activities. So, starting Friday May 15th, landscaping, gardening and low-risk recreation activities like tennis and drive-in movie theaters, OK across the country but only certain regions will be able to open more fully. So, there are three upstate that can. They will be allowed to open certain businesses like construction, manufacturing, curbside retail and there are two other regions that the governor said have met six of the seven metrics and they could be ready, Jake, as well by the end of the week. As for any steps beyond that, he said all that will depend on what happens once the phase reopening begins in each region, basically it is a step by step approach because no one wants to go backward -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Erica Hill in New York. Thank you so much. Coming up it was billed as desperately needed help for small businesses, but many businesses are now calling it a nightmare. We'll explain why, next.