Navajos extend state of emergency, 82 new cases of coronavirus brings total to 3,204

The Navajo President led supply delivery in Tohatchi and Sanostee, N.M., in the Chuska Mountain region. They are two of 110 Navajo Nation chapters in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Navajo population is over 350,000.
Photo by Navajo President's Office.

Navajos extend the state of emergency, as 82 new cases of coronavirus are reported in 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,204, with two more deaths

Article by Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Navajo Nation: 82 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths reported

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -- The Navajo Nation reported 82 new cases of coronavirus for the Navajo Nation and a total of 102 deaths as of Monday. The total number of positive COVID-19 cases for the Navajo Nation has reached 3,204.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the Navajo Nation will extend its declaration of a state of emergency and the closure of Navajo Nation government offices — the timeline of the extension is still being determined. The current Executive Order is set to expire on May 17.

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Pine Ridge locks down for 72-hours after two Lakotas test positive for coronavirus in Wounded Knee District

Watch on video broadcast on Facebook

Pine Ridge locks down for 72-hours after two Lakotas test positive for coronavirus in Wounded Knee District

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News
May 12, 2020

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota — The Oglala Sioux Nation locked down on Monday night for 72-hours after two Lakotas in Wounded Knee District tested positive for the coronavirus. There will be no movement during this time and stores will be shut down. Dialysis and emergency medical are exempt.

"We do not want a community spread here, we do not want a mass outbreak here," said Dakota High Hawk, public information officer with the Oglala Sioux's COVID-19 Response Task Force. High Hawk urged Lakotas to stay calm and stay home.

"There will be absolutely no movement," High Hawk said on a social media broadcast on Monday night. "The reservation is shut down. You will not be allowed to leave your residences."

High Hawk said border monitors will not allow residents to leave during this time.

"This is the exact thing we have been trying to prevent from coming. The only way we can sop the community spread is to lock it down, go into total shut down," he said.

"Our reservation does have two confirmed cases. They are located in the Wounded Knee District," said Oglala Sioux media specialist Karen Eagle. She asked people to limit rumors and speculations.

"These are our relatives," Eagle said, urging eveyone to support one another and remember that they are part of the Lakota family. She said the two people with coronavirus are in the same household. The main communities in the district are Wounded Knee and Manderson.

"The purpose of this lockdown is to prevent community spread," she said, adding that the tribe will work with the family to see where they have been and who they have been in contact with.

"If we are safe in our homes, then there is no way we can catch it."

"Do not make a run on the stores, they will be shutting down."

"You will not be able to leave the reservation even for medical appointments," she said, adding that farmers and ranchers are not allowed access to tribal land at this time.

The Oglala Sioux executive met in emergency session and passed the resolution, which carried unanimously. During the lockdown, movement is shut down and no one is allowed to leave their residences or engage in essential business. Violators can be fined up to $1,000.

Pass through vehicles on major highways will be allowed to pass, but unable to stop, and will be monitored, the Task Force said during a broadcast on social media on Monday night.

Meanwhile in the bordertown of Rapid City, a WalMart employee at the Lacrosse store tested positive for coronavirus. In Rapid City, 12 Native People tested positive for coronavirus at Oyate Health Center. See following press statement.

Twelve Native People test positive in Rapid City at Oyate Health Center

Jerilyn Church, CEO
Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board

RAPID CITY — The Oyate Health Center in Rapid City has recently begun seeing an uptick of positive COVID-19 cases at its facility. Jerilyn Church, CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board and the Oyate Health Center, issued a video message today to provide the community with further detail about the developments.
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Sharing the Love: Our readers respond with food and water for Navajo family

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

When a Navajo family with disabled and elderly with the coronavirus in Pinon, Arizona, posted on social media that they needed food, we were happy to be able to help.

Thanks to all of you who responded to the Navajo family with coronavirus in Pinon, a family with elderly and disabled with the virus who needed food and supplies. They received their supplies yesterday from Navajo Hopi COVID-19 Relief!

Thank you Klee Benally, Vanessa Tullie, Walt Yazzie and all of you good-hearted ones. I'm sure the family will be so happy with the other gifts our readers are sending the family.

Today, Tuesday, we have a second request for help from a Navajo recovering with coronavirus pneumonia in quarantine, who is not receiving any supplies on the Navajo Nation in Crownpoint, N.M.

The need is for the person and mother. If you can mail or ship supplies to the Navajo family, please e-mail me: brendanorrell@gmail.com

If other people with the virus are in quarantine and not receiving supplies, please e-mail me. I saw the plea for help from the family in Pinon on the Navajo President's Facebook comments, so I'm happy a community of good people responded.

The family sends this thank you from Pinon, in the heart of the Navajo Nation. "That's so kind of them, my heartfelt thanks!"

My email is: brendanorrell@gmail.com For those who want to mail or ship supplies, I'll can send the addresses of those with coronavirus in need of packaged food and supplies.

Donate to our friends doing the hard work of cleaning the food and supplies, and delivering those to Navajo and Hopi most in need:

Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief

https://www.gofundme.com/f/NHFC19Relief

Navajo Nation: Rapid increase in coronavirus cases on Mother's Day, now more than 3,000 cases

Miss Navajo aided the Navajo President's Office last week with supply deliveries in western Navajo chapters. Photo Navajo President's Office.

Navajo Nation: 149 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths reported

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. –  The Navajo Nation reported a large increase in coronavirus cases on Mother's Day, 149 new cases and two more deaths.  There are now a total of 100 deaths as of Sunday.  There are now 3,122 cases of coronavirus on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Dr. Sophina Calderon at Tuba City Regional Health Care spoke to CBS News about the staff shortages, which means seriously ill Navajos are being sent away from the Navajo Nation.

"Our most critical patients, the ones that are severely ill and need to be intubated, are transferred to Flagstaff and to Phoenix — areas far off the reservation. Every day we're intubating and sending out at least two to four patients a day."

"Our worst day that I can remember, we intubated and sent out about nine people, and that's all by chopper. We could keep more critical patients here if we could increase our ICU nursing staff, critical care nursing staff, and if we could get an intensive care doctor. We have ventilators. We have space. We just don't have the staff to do it."

At Winslow Indian Health Care Center, Dr. Michelle Tom spoke on the young people she is seeing with coronavirus.

"When a young person who was vibrant the week before comes in and we have to tell him if he goes on another liter of oxygen we're going to have to intubate and send him out to another facility — how do you tell him that? And then he asks, "When will they take it out?" And you have to be honest, and say you don't know. I don't know how to put that feeling into words. He's someone's son, someone's brother," Dr. Tom said.

"We are a strong people. I think that's what I'm most proud of. But when you see a brother or sister, kinship, and they're asking for help and there's not much more you can do for them, it's something you're really never fully trained for."

"I think it humbles me to know that I can do only so much, but I will do what I can while I'm here. I ask for guidance from my ancestors and my healers in the past who have passed onto the next life. Remembering them, honoring them when I pray."

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said on Mother's Day, “We’ve lost 100 lives to this virus and we offer our condolences to all of the families who are grieving and I want you to know that we’re working around the clock to fight COVID-19. We’re going to continue to be on the ground in our communities helping families directly with food, water, and other items to help them stay home and avoid the spread of the virus."

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Governor issued a lockdown of the border town of Gallup, New Mexico, on May 1 under the Riot Control Act, and extended it until Sunday, May 10. The mayor of Gallup asked for the order. 

McKinley County has over 1,000 cases of coronavirus, the largest number of any county in New Mexico. McKinley County includes Gallup, Zuni Pueblo, and portions of the eastern Navajo Nation. Most area residents depend on Gallup stores to purchase food, water, and supplies. Pueblos in New Mexico have also been hard hit by the coronavirus, with high numbers in Sandoval County.

The largest number of deaths in New Mexico are at nursing homes, including nursing homes in the border town of Farmington in San Juan County. Nationwide, ABC World News said nursing home deaths are responsible for 30 percent of coronavirus deaths in the United States.

In Arizona, Phoenix and Maricopa County have the largest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, followed by Tucson and Pima County, and then the counties on and around the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation continues 57-hour weekend curfews and nightly curfews on the Navajo Nation. The Navajo President's Office has led the delivery of food and supplies to 4,300 families on the Navajo Nation.