Coronavirus: Curbing The Spread In Indian Country

WAMU 88.5 | By Amanda Williams

Published April 12, 2020 at 8:11 PM CDT

A Navajo boy carries a wheelbarrow full of wood to heat his rural mobile home in freezing temperatures during the coronavirus pandemic on the reservation on March 27, 2020 in Cameron, Arizona. His home, like many others on the reservation, do not have running water, which is becoming worrisome during the coronavirus pandemic.

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?