New Mexico's governor warns tribal nations could be 'wiped out' by coronavirus
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham raised alarms with President Donald Trump Monday about "incredible spikes" in coronavirus cases in Navajo Nation, warning that the virus could "wipe out" some tribal nations, according to a recording of a call between Trump and the nation's governors obtained by ABC News.
"I'm very worried, Mr. President," Governor Lujan Grisham said, as she followed up on a request she made to the Department of Defense last Wednesday for a 248-bed U.S. Army combat support hospital (CSH) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Grisham told Trump she had not yet received a response.
"We're seeing incredible spikes in the Navajo Nation, and this is going to be an issue where we're going to have to figure that out and think about maybe testing and surveillance opportunities," Grisham said.
"The rate of infection, at least on the New Mexico side — although we've got several Arizona residents in our hospitals — we're seeing a much higher hospital rate, a much younger hospital rate, a much quicker go-right-to-the-vent rate for this population. And we're seeing doubling in every day-and-a-half," she said.
Wow, that's something," the president replied.
She added: "And it could wipe out those tribal nations."
"We're gonna get you that hospital as quickly as we can," Trump said, while directing others in the Situation Room to look into the problem and rush work on the hospital.
"Boy, that’s too bad for the Navajo nation – I've been hearing that."
As of Sunday, there were at least 128 cases and 2 deaths reported on the reservation, which has a population of over 250,000 and spans three states, according to the Navajo Department of Health and Navajo Area Indian Health Service.
The outbreak of the virus in the reservation is believed to have spread at an evangelical church rally in Chilchinbeto, Arizona, on March 7, according to a Los Angeles Times report. At least two Navajos have already died, the report said.
The Navajo Nation government declared a state of emergency on March 13, just one week later, before ultimately issuing a reservation-wide Shelter In Place order for all residents on March 20.
"In a short period of time, COVID-19 has arrived on the Navajo Nation and the number of cases are increasing at a high rate across the Nation," the order said. "The purpose of the closure is to allow the Navajo Nation as a whole to isolate and quarantine."
In her original request, Grisham wrote that the hospital was "urgently needed to support the State of New Mexico’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatens to overwhelm our existing medical treatment facilities and resources."
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The Navajo Department of Health and Navajo Area Indian Health Service announced 20 new confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and three new COVID-19-related deaths Monday. The total number of confirmed positive cases has now reached 148 with five confirmed deaths.
Curious as to what it takes to get non-Indians to read/look/comment on these threads.
I didn't know what to say honestly. I read it though.
Scary how quickly it can spread.
Well, give it time 1st. I just saw it.
Sounds relatively typical with other places in the US Hopefully the BIA handles it as best it can just like the Fed is trying to do in the rest of the country.
Hope they get what need just like everyone else.
Considering that there are 326 Native American reservations with a total population of over 2.6 million Native Americans, there is a large chance that the tribes/nations will suffer a great deal from the pandemic. With little to no medical facilities/care/professionals, a closed society to the rest of the country, culture and traditions that prevent much interaction, and the locales away from urban cities, contact with the virus could have terrible impacts.
Well, many of those folks do live near hospitals that serve Native Americans just like the rest of us. And those who don’t I can only speak to the experience I saw in Chinle Az where a Marine buddy of mine was from. They had their own federally run clinic/hospital there.
Not the Cleveland clinic but seemed just as good as many more rural hospitals I’ve seen. That said 1st, I hope they get the same help as any of us. It should be no different.
Sadly, 170 Docs from the IHS have been taken from the rez's and placed in non-Indian communities where they were/are "needed more".
Nope - the care ain't there and, as past practice has shown us quite dramatically, it won't be. Sorry to be negative, but facts are facts.
What about "M.A.S.H" style hospitals? If the National Guard were deployed, would they be an option?
Could similar shelters be put up for families who need to isolate healthy from infected members?
Just brainstorming here.
Governor has asked the Pres for a hospital tent - he agreed and it should be arriving in the next day or so.
But, that's for the state and will be placed in Albuquerque.
The Guard, a state unit, would not be able to provide medical - just protection.
Sorry to hear that friend.
I agree Sparty - there should be no difference.
This is something a friend of mine shared on Facebook last night. It's a bit awkwardly formatted, since I C&P'd from Facebook. They need supplies, and they need people, badly.
A plea from the Navajo Nation... from both IHS and tribally run hospitals, of which there are only a handful serving an area the size of West Virginia... Please read.
Many are feeling alone on the Navajo Nation right now, especially in the remote community of Chilchenbito, which is essentially on lockdown due to the major outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.
As a public health physician living in this area for the past 8 years, I am part of the Epi Response Team, and have already witnessed the terrible impact this virus has had, and it’s only just the beginning. It is rapidly spreading to surrounding communities, mostly due to a multi-church gathering that occurred in Chilchenbito in early March, and the handful of emergency rooms on the Reservation are already overwhelmed with people presenting in respiratory distress. Many are being intubated, stabilized, and flown out to tertiary care centers scattered across AZ, NM, UT, and CO; but many are also dying at home or shortly after arrival to the ER, and not being tested at all because we don’t have a system in place for post-mortem testing. General testing is also not widespread, so the true numbers are grossly underestimated. Our tertiary care centers in the surrounding states are filling up fast - likely reaching capacity by next week - and we will have to keep these incredibly sick patients at our facilities on the Rez, without enough critical care nurses or PPE. We have smart doctors here and we are actively surge planning: designing respiratory care units in existing spaces and purchasing more ventilators (that are on back order), but it’s just not going to be enough.
I want to share why the Navajo Nation, especially this small community of Chilchenbito, is so incredibly vulnerable to this virus (and pretty much every communicable disease in existence):
The Navajo (Dine) people suffer from high rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, and autoimmune conditions (to name a few), but this is only a small part of the story here.
Poverty - It’s hard to practice proper hand hygiene when there is no running water. Many have to haul water, but as the more physically mobile members of the family get sick, they are no longer able to do so. And many do not have the income to purchase soap, hand sanitizer, or even food... especially when they have to drive an hour to the closest store (if they have the money for gas) only to find that things are out of stock. USPS does not deliver to homes on the Rez, and many homes do not have a physical address where items can be delivered by even UPS or FedEx.
Overcrowding - When there are multiple generations, and perhaps multiple families, living in one small household, it’s hard to isolate those that are sick from those that are well. Entire households are falling ill.
Limitations of sheltering in place - related to overcrowding, if an entire household is sheltering in a small place, and unable to isolate those that are sick, and do not have the resources for proper hand hygiene and disinfection, it is easy for the virus to spread to everyone in the house. Additionally, it is difficult for these families to obtain things like groceries and other goods when they don’t have anyone that can safely leave the house...
Numbers - There are over 160,000 living on the Nation. There are only 28 ventilators on the entire Reservation. We need at least double this amount if the models/projections for this disease are correct. And that doesn’t take into account the number of medical professionals needed to take care of these critically ill patients: doctors and nurses that are continually getting exposed to the virus and being quarantined because they do not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE)
Access to information - When much of this community is comprised of elders that speak their traditional language and do not have a smartphone or social media, it is hard to disseminate information quickly to stay up to date... many households do not have land lines or television or even electricity. And when this information isn’t disseminated widely and effectively, many traditional gatherings and ceremonies,
including funerals, continue to take place and spreading occurs.
Protection for healthcare workers - When the nearby health centers do not have enough PPE to safely see patients presenting to the hospital, let alone to perform vital home visits for assessments and face-to-face education, everyone is put at risk. The EMTs responding to 911 calls are also put at tremendous risk!
We are trying our best out here, but it is so incredibly difficult.
Please be mindful of the challenges we face.
But also be aware of the grassroots efforts by the local health centers, the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, and the Navajo Nation to obtain and allocate resources (including food, water, soap, disinfectants, educational materials, etc) and to provide the best care possible.
That being said, the Navajo Nation government and Indian Health Service Area office doesn’t have the infrastructure or organization to handle what is happening (and what is about to happen) at this kind of scale. We need additional help, perhaps from the National Guard, public health service, or other organizations. We need more critical care nurses, more PPE and other supplies. Sure, there have been funds from the stimulus package slated for the IHS and tribe, but this will take precious time to actually reach this area... and will likely get here after the worst has already occurred. Plus, the money is not worth a whole lot when vendors are out of stock and we can't find nurses to pay.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Nina Mayer Ritchie, M.D.
MedPeds physician
Thanks for posting that Sandy. It explains a whole lot. I hope they can get the help they need. Sounds rather bad when they can't even get nurses for money. Very worrisome.
My sis is there currently, working near the Navajo reservation, in Farmington. Of the (I think) 3 providers in her office, 2 are temporary employees. She's a temp employee. It's hard to keep medical personnel there, unless they grew up there. Shame - it's a beautiful area. She's enjoyed her time there.
Hearing on Minnesota public Radio the same concerns here. White Earth, Devils Lake,,,,same issues. Poor living conditions, severe lack of medical personnel and equipment, etc. It is just starting to hit here and already seeing the poorest and most needy being effected the most. There are reservations that struggle just for clean water, let alone trying to battle an insidious enemy like this virus.
The invisible people. That's the real enemy here.
If ya go to many of the Indian blog sites, you'll see where the "they're still trying to kill us off" mantra is being spread. And, seriously, when you look at all the past total lack of assistance/violations of the willfully exchanged treaties - it does seem so. The Feds won't step up to take the responsibilities they signed for because, as you say, "We're the Invisible People".
Credit to Gov Grisham for going directly to the President. I understand she was once the state's Secretary of Health.