COVID-19 has taken hold on the Navajo Nation.
To curb the spread, citizens began sheltering-in-place since March 21st. That was 10 days before Arizona — which surrounds most of the Navajo Nation — announced its own stay-at-home order. But COVID-19 has already infected nearly 600 people and killed more than 21 others.
And now, the nation’s president and vice president are self-quarantining after being exposed to a first responder who tested positive.
And that’s not the only hotspot in Indian Country.
From Indian Country Today:
Two pueblos in New Mexico have some of the highest infection rates in the United States. The numbers are stark. Zia Pueblo has 31 confirmed positive cases with a population of 900 people. And San Felipe has 52 cases with a population of 2,200.
To put those numbers in perspective there are 74,601 cases in New York City with a population of 3.2 million. That breaks down to an infection rate of 2.33 percent.
The percentage works out to 3.4 percent for Zia and 2.36 percent at San Felipe.
What’s beingdone to help curb the outbreak? And how are people coping?
Copyright 2020 WAMU 88.5