New York City has consistently been making headlines as the U.S. center hardest hit by Coronavirus, when in reality it is Navajo Nation, an area of around 27,000 square miles of land between Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that has a 3.4% infection rate, compared to New York’s 1.9%.
Navajo Nation is home to around 175,000 people and known for having high numbers of indigenous groups and peoples in the area. According to the Navajo Nation Department of Health, as of June 9, 2020, they have over 6,000 confirmed cases, establishing a 3.4% infection rate.
Professionals have been asking the same question: How on earth did this happen? New York City is a hotspot for Coronavirus, however the amount of international flights and people living in the metropolitan area explains this occurrence; Navajo Nation doesn’t have the same logical reasoning.
One of the main issues was the lack of infrastructure present far before the appearance of COVID-19, according to Dr. Sriram Shamasunder, associate professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. Shamasunder is also co-founder of UCSF’s Health, Equity, Action, Leadership Initiative, a program that is now partnering with Navajo Nation to improve conditions.
It has been said that due to this poor infrastructure, many Navajo Nation residents don’t have proper access to basic amenities such as electricity or running water. In fact, Shamasunder has estimated that around one third of the population doesn’t have access to these two things.
While for some around the world the lockdown may be an inconvenience, Navajo Nation residents and many people globally are tasked with the impossible.
“For many Native Americans, it’s [‘shelter-in-private’] an impossibility. If you don’t have a refrigerator to store food, or water to drink, then you’re not going to be able to just stay at home.”
Dr. Sriram Shamasunder
44% of Navajo Nation residents live below the United States poverty line, leading the U.S. Department of Agriculture to classify the area as a “food desert”. In a Hunger Report issued in 2016 by the Bread for the World Institute, it was noted that grocery stores, convenience stores, and fresh produce are hard to find or unaffordable for the residents.
Moving on to the spread of Coronavirus in the area, there were several pre-existing cultural factors that made Navajo much more vulnerable. For example, measures like social distancing are tough concepts.
One of the main values Navajo cherishes is family, with several generations often living under one roof. Due to the tribal atmosphere in the area, they frequently gather with family, friends, and their clan families, the latter sometimes coming from all parts of Navajo.
Contact tracing efforts have traced the first group of infections back to a weekend during which a traditional gathering, a church event, and many birthday parties took place, fostering the spread of Coronavirus.
An Indian Health Service “surge projection” analysis predicted that Navajo health care facilities would be extremely overwhelmed by mid-May.
These facilites, much like many other indigenous regions all over the United States, were already very underfunded and understaffed. The United States’ health care system was evidently unprepared to combat a pandemic like COVID-19, but this statement becomes overwhelmingly true when speaking about tribal communities.
Even before Coronavirus, Native American health has never been a priority to the United States government. With IHS receiving a third of the amount of funding that Medicare and the VA receive, Native communities don’t have emergency beds, intensive care units, or intensive care doctors, even when Navajos have underlying health conditions known as risk factors for COVID-19, such as diabetes or a high incidence of heart disease.
Indigenous communities, like many minorities in the United States, have suffered systemic oppression for centuries. Lack of investment in healthcare systems, lousy infrastructure for education, and poor housing are reasons that some communities were simply unprepared for the pandemic. However, Navajo Nation has shown some incredible initiative and resilience during this time, coming together and using their sovereign ability to govern themselves to issue strict public health orders.
Link to donate to the Official Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund:
Sources:
“COVID-19 Ravages the Navajo Nation.” WebMD, WebMD, 9 June 2020, http://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200609/covid-19-ravages-the-navajo-nation#3.
Newton, Creede. “Why Has Navajo Nation Been Hit so Hard by the Coronavirus?” USA News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 27 May 2020, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/navajo-nation-hit-hard-coronavirus-200526171504037.html.
Sternlicht, Alexandra. “Navajo Nation Has Most Coronavirus Infections Per Capita In U.S., Beating New York, New Jersey.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 19 May 2020, http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/05/19/navajo-nation-has-most-coronavirus-infections-per-capita-in-us-beating-new-york-new-jersey/#bcd96ee8b102.
Help Humans 