The Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the U.S., saw its first case of COVID-19 on March 27th, and since then has seen over 1,300 positive tests for the virus. Most people in the Navajo Nation live in rural areas, which should limit the spread of the virus, but the tribe is facing several challenges in dealing with the Coronavirus.

Many natives have high rates of illnesses that make the community vulnerable to COVID-19 like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. A history of mining, especially uranium mining, on the reservation has resulted in higher rates of reproductive cancers. In addition, one in 2,000 Navajos are born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a genetic disorder where a child is basically born without an immune system, although mandatory screening of Navajo children at birth enables the tribe to treat the condition.

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Third World America

In addition to these health challenges, the Navajo Nation is extremely poor. The United States has an official poverty rate of 12.6 percent. The rate of poverty in the Navajo Nation for families is 46.5 percent, with 14.9 percent of people living in extreme poverty.

Amenities that Americans take for granted, like plumbing, electricity, and paved roads, are not a guarantee on the reservation. One in ten Navajos doesn’t have electricity. In Apache county Arizona where the capital of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock, is located, Native American households are 13 times more likely to lack complete plumbing. Forty percent of the Native nation does not have indoor plumbing. The CDC handwashing guidelines are incompatible with life under these conditions.

A Poor People Pandemic

The Navajo Nation government has taken steps to stop the spread of COVID-19, with President Jonathan Nez declaring a weekend curfew on April 12th, and the Navajo Department of Health mandating the use of masks outside the home on April 19th. Even with these measures, the Navajo Nation will see higher COVID-19 infection rates and deaths, much like other poor and systematically disadvantaged communities across the country.

Sources

• The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America’s coronavirus experience – The Week
• As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries To Get Ahead Of Pandemic – NPR
• Navajo, Hopi Nations Have High Rates Of “Plumbing Poverty” – KNAU
• A forgotten health crisis in Navajo lands – Center for Health Journalism

The Karipuna people in the Brazilian Amazon are in isolation due to COVID-19, but the presence of loggers close to their villages is compromising their efforts to stay safe. The Karipuna Indigenous People’s Association (Apoika), Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), and Greenpeace Brasil have filed a joint complaint with the local federal prosecutor’s office. Multiple complaints by both Brazil and international agencies have been submitted in regards to relentless logging and land invasion in the Rondônia state where the Karipunia live. The current pandemic means the invasion of indigenous land is especially dangerous for the occupants of the land.

We are scared that one of these invaders will bring the virus inside our territory…Bolsonaro has told these people that it’s just a little flu and that they can go back to work.”

Adriano Karipuna, one of the group’s leaders – Mongabay

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The Yanomami people in the Roraima state are experiencing the same threats. Illegal mining activity in the region has not ceased during the pandemic, and a 15-year-old Yanomami boy has died from the coronavirus.

Both the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who live there are vulnerable right now. Many native customs facilitate the spread of respiratory diseases. Other factors like poor sanitation, immune systems that are not used to contact with many modern diseases, and a lack of healthcare facilities will exacerbate the risk. Meanwhile, deforestation attempts have not slowed. Clearance rates are 10% higher this year than they were for the same period last year. In addition, deforestation figures for August 2019 to the end of March 2020 are twice the rate they were for August 2018 to the end of March 2019.

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Sources:

• Amazon indigenous put at risk by Brazil’s feeble Covid-19 response: Critics – Mongabay
• In the midst of the pandemic, squatters and invaders approach Karipuna village – CIMI.org
• Amid covid-19, gold digging advances and approaches isolated Indians in Roraima – BBC Brasil
• Boy from isolated Amazon tribe dies of COVID-19, raising fears of devastating outbreak – Japan Times