WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2020) The Navajo Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the United States, has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and is struggling to get urgent assistance due to the bureaucratic obstacles at various levels of the government, the tribe's president Jonathan Nez told Sputnik.
"We're getting hit hard...we're barely going up the curve while the rest of other states throughout the country, they're almost at the peak of this pandemic," Nez said. "This [virus] goes pretty fast."
As of Thursday morning, there are 488 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 deaths caused by the disease in the tribe, according to officials.
The Navajo Nation has conducted more than 3,800 tests with 2,121 of them coming back negative as of Tuesday, Nez said adding that it may be a sign that mitigation efforts are working.
Medical equipment on Navajo Nation is becoming scarce and only have enough COVID-19 diagnostic tests remain to get through the week, Nez said.
"The White House has been boasting about giving tribes' Indian Health Services (IHS) rapid testing test kits and I just got an update this evening [Tuesday] from our Navajo area IHS saying that they haven't received any of those test kits through the Federal government," Nez said.
Moreover, the reservation does not have the hospital capacity to treat the growing number of infected patients.
"Ventilators, we have about half of our Navajo citizens who live on the Navajo Nation itself, so half of 350,000," Nez said. "The Navajo Nation is the size of West Virginia and if you put that into perspective we only have 50-plus ventilators here on the Navajo nation. We don't have the equipment."
The Navajo Nation is seeking volunteer doctors and nurses who may be able to help alleviate the burden on the reservation's health care system, Nez said. Some nursing students who recently graduated from the University of Arizona are expected to provide support to the tribe soon, Nez said.
The Navajo tribe is expected to lose at least tens of millions of Dollars in revenue in its economy due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Nez said.
"The casinos alone, just those three weeks that they were closed, people are saying four to five million dollars they're going to lose," Nez said. "So add another three weeks to that and you're looking at over $10 million in revenue. That's just the casinos alone. You got to look at the tourism industry, hotels, and restaurants."
Nez said the tribe relies heavily on tourism, especially around the spring. He pointed out that all the tribal parks and other areas of interest are closed, which is impacting the local shops, restaurants and tour guides that benefit from tourism as well.
Nez said they are depending on the $2 trillion stimulus package to provide some relief.
The US Department of Labor said earlier this month that the United States lost more than 700,000 jobs in March due to the pandemic, raising the unemployment rate by almost 1 percent to 4.4 percent, making it the most in a month since 1975.
BUREAUCRACY DELAYS ASSISTANCE FROM STATE, FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS
The bureaucracy at the federal, state and tribal levels is complicating COVID-19 response efforts and prolonging the arrival of much needed assistance during the pandemic, Nez said.
"Now is the time for those policies and laws to be changed so that dollars can get to Indian country a lot faster," Nez said. "We're just not advocating for ourselves on Navajo nation, we're also advocating for other tribes throughout the country too. We're the largest tribe, everybody looks at Navajo as being the big brother."
Nez said he raised the issue with Senator Elizabeth Warner on Tuesday during a conference call.
He pointed out that the bureaucratic process has caused a weeks-long wait for the tribe to acquire a $750,000 grant for aid in the pandemic.
Nez expressed disappointment that the Native American tribes appear to be put on the back burner when it comes to receiving federal assistance.
"It seems to me and it still continues today that tribes are the last ones to get anything in this country," Nez said. "The three legislations that were passed, the latest one was that $2 trillion stimulus bill, all those dollars are going to the states, going to the counties, going to the cities and municipalities but we're just getting piecemeal amounts to Indian country."
The Navajo Nation has spent $4 million of its own money to fund emergency response efforts on its reservation, Nez said. In addition, Nez said they have a latex glove manufacturing plant, which has been shipping gloves to health care facilities in the Navajo Nation and to other hospitals and clinics in need throughout the United States.
"We're keeping track of every Dollar we're spending because at the end of this pandemic, at the end of this public health emergency, Navajo will submit paperwork to the White House for reimbursements because that [federal] money is not coming to Navajo quickly so what can we do but to use some of our own resources here on Navajo," Nez said. ""We are the first citizens of this country and we are in dire need of assistance."
OTHER TRIBES FEEL COVID-19 IMPACT
Other Native American tribes are also beginning to feel the strain from the pandemic.
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe spokesperson Remi Bald Eagle told Sputnik earlier this week that their tribe is struggling to acquire enough reagents needed to conduct COVID-19 diagnostic tests for its community. The spokesperson said the tribe, which is located in South Dakota, has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday after it conducted ten tests, but the results of one test are still pending. Bald Eagle noted that the tribe has only 30 tests left.
In addition, Bald Eagle said their local health care facility does not have the capacity to care for a COVID-19 patient and would have to depend on an outside healthcare facility.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation spans North Dakota and South Dakota, confirmed its first COVID-19 case on Wednesday. The tribe said the individual is self-quarantined at home with family and they are being closely monitored for symptoms.
The United States has more than 432,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 14,800 deaths due to the disease as of Thursday morning, according to data published by Johns Hopkins University.
