Source: CNN - Health: Written by Jacqueline Howard, with contributions by Maggie Fox; updated at 11:00 am EDT on Friday, 21 August 2020
Covid-19 Incidence More Than Triple Among Native Americans, New CDC Report Says
Navajo Nation has lost more people to coronavirus than 13 states combined
Navajos in the time of COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on Native American communities. The incidence of Covid-19 cases among American Indians and Alaska Natives was 3.5 times that among White people, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report included data on 340,059 Covid-19 cases confirmed between January 22 and July 3 from across 23 states. The researchers - from the CDC and other institutions across the United States - took a close look at race and ethnicity information for those cases.
Among American Indians and Alaska Natives there were 594 Covid cases per 100,000 people. That compares to, among White people, just 169 cases per 100,000, the team reported on Wednesday.
Data was limited to cases that included race and ethnicity information. The study also only compared coronavirus rates among American Indians and Alaska Natives to White people and not to other groups, as the pandemic also has hit Black and Hispanic communities at disproportionate rates.
The CDC said Wednesday that it has provided more than $200 million in Covid-19 funding to American Indian and Alaska Native communities to support pandemic preparedness and responsive efforts, such as surveillance, laboratory capacity and infection control.
"American Indian and Alaska Native people have suffered a disproportionate burden of Covid-19 illness during the pandemic," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a news release. "This funding approach will broaden access to Covid-19 resources across tribal communities."
In May, Dr. Thomas Wayne Sequist, a member of the Taos Pueblo tribe of New Mexico, told the House Ways and Means Committee that many issues are exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic among Native American families across the United States.
"What I've observed with the Navajo Nation is the shortage of testing there, and the lack of personal protective equipment there," he said during a hearing on the Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Communities of Color.
Covid is impacting social issues as well, he said, and families have been hit hard by the pandemic across many generations.
"There are entire families that have either been infected with it, or have had multiple deaths in the family, all at once. And that is going to create a trauma that's going to be long lasting and a need for mental health services," he said.
"We cannot flip back into complacency," Sequist said, adding the circumstances that created the crisis "existed long before Covid, and will persist long after, unless we take decisive action starting today."
***** Note from BND: Most Native American tribes and Alaskan Natives have very few hospitals nearby, and must travel hundreds of miles to reach medical care. Funding for medical care is often limited, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs seems to like to complicate matters for the people they were created "to serve." Medical care on reservations can be "spotty" at best... The CDC has sent aid to the tribes - but getting it disbursed is another matter.... Here is an excerpt from a report in May 2020 about $8 billion in COVID-19 aid that was designated for Native American tribes and Alaska Natives:
" ... The human and economic toll of the pandemic has been particularly devastating for tribes across the country, which were already struggling with inadequate federal resources and are now among the most vulnerable and hardest hit by the virus. While the stimulus law mandated that $8 billion be provided to tribes by the end of April, tribal leaders say they have yet to receive any of the money, prompting a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
But the delay stems in part from a dispute among the nation's native populations, which are feuding over who is entitled to the aid. It pits Alaska Native corporations, for-profit businesses which serve several tribal villages in Alaska, against federally recognized tribal governments in the lower 48 states who argue the corporations should not be eligible for the coronavirus relief monies.
The Trump administration has sided with the Alaska Native corporations. More than a dozen tribes filed lawsuits last month challenging the Treasury Department's decision to allow the corporations to apply for the aid, saying they do not meet the definition of tribal governments. ..."
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