As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries To Get Ahead Of Pandemic
4 years, 9 months ago

As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries To Get Ahead Of Pandemic

NPR  

As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries To Get Ahead Of Pandemic toggle caption Courtesy of Adrian Lerma A good part of Percy Deal's day is spent hauling water for his family and livestock in two 55-gallon barrels. Adrian Lerma says these mines created conditions like autoimmune disorders that have left this community vulnerable to the coronavirus. "There are people that do have compromised immune systems because of this contamination that's really affected the land, the water, the air, the people," Lerma says. "And so that means there's people that don't have refrigeration systems in their homes," Lerma says.

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History of this topic

The Times podcast: How Native Americans became a vaccine success story
3 years, 4 months ago

The Times podcast: How Native Americans became a vaccine success story

LA Times  

Kathleen Adams, head public-health nurse at the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana, carries coolers to her car on her way to vaccinate a community member. The pandemic has exacerbated longstanding health inequities, and a deep-rooted distrust in the federal government made tribal leaders fearful that members would reject the government-endorsed vaccines. Native Americans now have the highest vaccination rates of …

Navajo Nation outpaces wider US: 60 percent fully vaccinated
3 years, 7 months ago

Navajo Nation outpaces wider US: 60 percent fully vaccinated

Al Jazeera  

Navajo Nation leads the US in vaccination rates, despite rural population, by meeting people ‘where they are’. The Navajo Nation continues to lead the United States in vaccination efforts, having fully vaccinated 102,372 individuals as of May 15 – 60 percent of the tribal lands’ population of roughly 170,000 – according to data released on Thursday. TODAY AT MONUMENT VALLEY …

Navajo Nation outpaces much of US in delivering COVID vaccines
3 years, 11 months ago

Navajo Nation outpaces much of US in delivering COVID vaccines

Al Jazeera  

Indigenous Navajo Nation has used 94 percent of allocated vaccines and is to receive another 29,000. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said that as of Sunday, the Navajo Area Indian Health Service delivered 74,048 of the 78,520 vaccine doses it had received, a 94 percent rate. Dr Loretta Christensen, chief medical officer of the NAIHS, told Al Jazeera the Navajo …

Navajo Nation COVID vaccine roll-out begins as cases, deaths rise
4 years ago

Navajo Nation COVID vaccine roll-out begins as cases, deaths rise

Al Jazeera  

US’s Navajo Nation hopes to receive second vaccine batch next week as health workers fight second wave of the pandemic. The Navajo Nation reported 160 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as public health authorities continued the first round of vaccinations among the hard-hit Indigenous population in the southwestern United States. The first COVID wave occurred when the rest of …

They know the sick. On Navajo Nation, contact tracers work to control coronavirus on vast lands
4 years, 1 month ago

They know the sick. On Navajo Nation, contact tracers work to control coronavirus on vast lands

LA Times  

The man on the other end of the speakerphone gasped and let out a thick, phlegm-clogged cough before responding to Marlene Montoya’s question. “Me and my oldest boy are in bad shape.” Montoya, a COVID-19 contact tracer here on the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico, leaned close to the phone and spoke in a low, soothing tone to the …

'Breaking Point': Navajo Hospitals Warn Of Bed, Nurse And Oxygen Supply Shortages
4 years, 1 month ago

'Breaking Point': Navajo Hospitals Warn Of Bed, Nurse And Oxygen Supply Shortages

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Navajo Nation leaders and medical professionals on Thursday warned the reservation is facing shortages of hospital beds, nurses and oxygen supplies as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the area and across the country. “I am very concerned about this second rise in COVID-19 cases that we’re seeing locally,” said Dr. Jonathan Iralu, an infectious disease specialist …

The Navajo Nation is struggling to survive the coronavirus
4 years, 1 month ago

The Navajo Nation is struggling to survive the coronavirus

CNN  

Navajo Nation, Pinon, Arizona CNN — A thick cloud of dust kicks up behind cars as they meander down a rugged dirt road into town. Lack of government support Piñon High School Principal Timothy Nelson believes there are a number of reasons for the Navajo Nation’s high rate of infection, including a lack of federal and state government support. “Where’s …

Navajo Nation extends closings of tribal casinos into July
4 years, 7 months ago

Navajo Nation extends closings of tribal casinos into July

Associated Press  

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation’s gambling operation had hoped to reopen its casinos in mid-June but they’ll stay closed until at least early July because of the coronavirus outbreak. Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise officials said Friday that closures ordered to help curb spread of the virus will stay in place due to a recent order by tribal President …

Why has Navajo Nation been hit so hard by the coronavirus?
4 years, 7 months ago

Why has Navajo Nation been hit so hard by the coronavirus?

Al Jazeera  

Navajo Nation has the highest per capita infection rate in US, highlighting centuries of neglect, native leaders say. Navajo Nation leaders announced last week that it had the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the United States, outpacing hot spots like New York. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a Monday press release that “14.6 percent of our …

Navajo Nation surpasses New York state for highest Covid-19 infection rate in the US
4 years, 7 months ago

Navajo Nation surpasses New York state for highest Covid-19 infection rate in the US

CNN  

CNN — The Navajo Nation has surpassed New York and New Jersey for the highest per-capita coronavirus infection rate in the US – another sign of Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on minority communities. By contrast, New York state now has a rate of 1,806 cases per 100,000 and New Jersey is at 1,668 cases per 100,000, according to data from Johns …

Death toll in US passes 90,000 but influential coronavirus model lowers its prediction
4 years, 7 months ago

Death toll in US passes 90,000 but influential coronavirus model lowers its prediction

CNN  

CNN — A key coronavirus model has revised its death projection for the United States slightly downward, now forecasting that 143,360 people will die by August 4. “We were pretty surprised,” said Chris Murray, the chairman of the school’s Health Metrics Sciences department. “We are going to have to conduct formal efficacy trials where you vaccinate many, many people, and …

Trump administration to hold 'virtual meetings' on oil drilling - but tribes affected have limited internet
4 years, 7 months ago

Trump administration to hold 'virtual meetings' on oil drilling - but tribes affected have limited internet

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The Trump administration is pushing ahead with plans for oil and gas drilling in New …

‘The grief is so unbearable': Virus takes hold on Navajo
4 years, 7 months ago

‘The grief is so unbearable': Virus takes hold on Navajo

Associated Press  

TUBA CITY, Arizona — The virus arrived on the reservation in early March, carried in from Tucson, doctors say, by a man who had been to a basketball tournament and then made the long drive back to a small town in the Navajo highlands. From that church in Chilchinbeto, COVID-19 took hold on the Navajo Nation, hopscotching across families and …

Doctors Without Borders dispatched to New Mexico to help the Navajo Nation
4 years, 7 months ago

Doctors Without Borders dispatched to New Mexico to help the Navajo Nation

CNN  

CNN — At least two teams from Doctors Without Borders are working with Native American communities in New Mexico to help curb the spread of coronavirus, the organization told CNN. A nine-person team arrived in Gallup late April and has been working with the Navajo Nation since, said aid worker Jean Stowell, who heads the organization’s US Covid-19 response team. …

‘We’re vulnerable’: On the Navajo Nation, a rush to curb the coronavirus
4 years, 8 months ago

‘We’re vulnerable’: On the Navajo Nation, a rush to curb the coronavirus

LA Times  

A Navajo woman herds her sheep near Two Grey Hills, N.M. Road closures, mask mandates and weekend curfews have not stopped a troubling upward trajectory of coronavirus-related deaths on the Navajo Nation, a high desert landscape with underfunded hospitals and overburdened doctors stretching across three states. There shouldn’t be anyone who says they don’t know what’s going on with COVID-19,” …

10 steps to save Native Americans from Covid-19 catastrophe (opinion)
4 years, 8 months ago

10 steps to save Native Americans from Covid-19 catastrophe (opinion)

CNN  

Editor’s Note: CNN host Van Jones is the CEO of the REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice organization. CNN — The pandemic ravaging some Native American communities has echoes that go back centuries – to the measles and smallpox epidemics that first decimated the original Americans. The Indian Health Service reported almost 4,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, across all 12 regions used …

Native Americans look to future amid grim coronavirus numbers
4 years, 8 months ago

Native Americans look to future amid grim coronavirus numbers

Al Jazeera  

A programme in the Utah Navajo Nation hopes to provide sustainable aid to elders as tribes worry virus could spread. As the Navajo Nation began preparing for the coronavirus pandemic in March, Pete Sands, coordinator of a food delivery programme in the Utah portion of Navajo tribal lands, envisioned the difficulties that were to come. “A lot of the times, …

Navajo Nation Sees High Rate Of COVID-19 And Contact Tracing Is A Challenge
4 years, 8 months ago

Navajo Nation Sees High Rate Of COVID-19 And Contact Tracing Is A Challenge

NPR  

Navajo Nation Sees High Rate Of COVID-19 And Contact Tracing Is A Challenge Enlarge this image toggle caption Aurelia Yazzie/Courtesy Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation Aurelia Yazzie/Courtesy Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation After New York and New Jersey, the place with the highest coronavirus infection rate in the U.S. is the Navajo Nation. "We are United States citizens …

Coronavirus spike on Navajo Nation raises alarms
4 years, 9 months ago

Coronavirus spike on Navajo Nation raises alarms

Al Jazeera  

A steep rise in coronavirus cases on the Navajo Nation in the western part of the United States has caused concern among regional leaders, who worry the tribal lands are ill-equipped to handle the pandemic and the federal government is taking too long to address needs. The Navajo Nation Department of Health and Navajo Area Indian Health Service reported 174 …

Navajo Nation President: U.S. Government Ignoring Native Americans Amid Coronavirus
4 years, 9 months ago

Navajo Nation President: U.S. Government Ignoring Native Americans Amid Coronavirus

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said Tuesday that the U.S. government “once again has ignored” the country’s Indigenous people, accusing federal officials of failing to deliver enough much-needed resources to help fight the coronavirus. “We feel that the United States government once again has ignored or even left out the first residents, the first people, the first …

No running water. No electricity. On Navajo Nation, coronavirus creates worry and confusion as cases surge
4 years, 9 months ago

No running water. No electricity. On Navajo Nation, coronavirus creates worry and confusion as cases surge

LA Times  

Lisa Robbins runs the generator attached to her family’s mobile home for just a few hours most mornings. “They told us to stay inside … don’t come out because people could die,” Robbins said one evening last week. “Navajo residents are panicking as these numbers rise,” said Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation. “That’s when I really realized something …

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