The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council On Wednesday announced it would direct a portion of the tribe’s federal coronavirus relief funds to cover funeral costs of tribal members.
The announcement said family of the deceased can apply for up to $5,000 to cover the individual’s mortuary and funeral costs.
Twenty Blackfeet community members have died from the novel coronavirus since March.
As of Oct. 28, there are 93 active COVID-19 cases on the Blackfeet Reservation. Fifteen of those patients are hospitalized.
The reservation is currently under Stay Home orders, including a daily curfew from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M., through Nov. 8.
COVID-19 has hit Native Americans in Montana particularly hard. Although only about seven percent of Montana’s population is Indigenous, Native Americans account for 39 percent of the state’s coronavirus deaths.