When COVID-19 first hit the United States in early 2020, urban centers like New York City came to the national spotlight. But when the disease spread across the United States later that spring, the Navajo emerged as a hotspot for the disease, with case rates higher than anywhere else in the country.
Newly compiled data reveals how severely the pandemic affected Indigenous communities in Arizona when it hit, and how community responses helped reverse trends in 2021. increase.
Apache County, Arizona, which is part of the Navajo Nation, had the highest excess mortality rate of any large county in the nation in both 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile, neighboring Navajo County had her fourth-highest rate in 2020 and his second-highest rate in 2021.Rural areas already face him vulnerable to COVID-19 Barriers to healthcare access High rates of chronic disease pre-pandemic.
After the initial surge in the spring, the Navajo responded with stringent measures to control the virus, including community-wide lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, and encouraged residents to get vaccinated in early 2021. In his second year of the pandemic, her COVID-19 mortality rate among Native Americans in and around counties intersecting the reservation plummeted. At the same time, her COVID-19 deaths among white residents of Navajo and Apache counties increased. Similar patterns were seen in other counties bordering the Navajo in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
In Navajo County, Native American COVID-19 mortality nearly halved between 2020 and 2021, according to an analysis of death certificate data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Apache County, the percentage decreased by 36%. Meanwhile, her COVID-19 death rate among whites in those counties rose several-fold from 2020 to 2021.
Apache and Navajo counties CDC Social Vulnerability IndexThe index is calculated based on factors such as housing quality, poverty and unemployment. Residents of these communities are typically more vulnerable to extreme events such as natural disasters and pandemics, according to Dr. Daniel DirksenDirector of the University of Arizona Center for Rural Health.
“In the Navajo Nation, the tribes have done a great job pushing out a vaccine,” said public health expert Mary Catherine McNutt. AT Still University Its research focuses on health inequalities.
CDC mortality data shows how Native American vaccination saved lives as death rates plummeted in Navajo and Apache counties in 2020-2021. Similar trends were observed in neighboring counties with large Native American populations. For example, in Gila County, Arizona, his COVID-19 death rate among Native Americans halved from 2020 to 2021, while among white residents he more than doubled.
He said Navajo Nation’s COVID-19 response was “built on the health of the community,” while also addressing the implications from long-term investments in Native American health. Mark Emersona Dine epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, paper Discuss the impact of Navajo racism and colonialism on COVID-19.
Emerson says this long-term problem won’t be easily resolved. In his recent paper, he discusses “how current inequalities in Navajo socioeconomic status, food and water security underscore the impact of settler colonialism.” I’m here.
These issues are contributing to higher overall mortality rates in counties such as the Navajo and Apache in 2021, despite a decline in COVID-19 deaths. Apache County has the highest excess mortality rate in the nation (among counties with over 30,000) in both 2020 and 2021, while Navajo County ranks him fourth in 2020 and second in 2021. it was done. analysis From Demographer at Boston University. excess mortality, death scale Occurring more than researchers expected in a given period of time based on historical trends is often cited as the true victim of a pandemic.
Arizona’s life expectancy decreased by 2.8 years in 2020 compared to 2.1 years nationally. Arizona Public Health AssociationThe rate of decline for Native Americans was “surprisingly high” at 8.1 years, according to epidemiologist Alan Williams, author of the report.
Arizona and national patterns suggest that many of the pandemic-related Native American COVID-19 deaths are underestimated, with already high statistics underestimating the true burden of the disease. Indicates that there is a possibility that One reason for the underrepresentation, he said, is that Native Americans are not always correctly classified as Native Americans.
Navajo clinical assistant Timian Godfrey Professor of Nursing A University of Arizona professor said Native Americans “may face discrimination, racism, and poor treatment” in medical settings, and they choose not to go to hospitals, leading to distrust of the medical system. said to be a factor. “So many diseases we see are underreported.”
advance report by Record of COVID-19 project highlights staffing issues as a potential cause of underestimation of deaths from COVID-19. Health services facilities in India have long faced a shortage of staff, according to. 2018 report From the Government Accountability Office.
McNutt also suggested that a broader definition of “COVID-19 deaths” could help fully understand the impact of the pandemic on places like Navajo Nation. “If someone commits suicide because both of their parents died of COVID, is it a COVID death?” she asked. Deaths from suicide, car crashes, gun violence, and alcohol poisoning increased significantly in Navajo and Apache counties during the pandemic.
Improving data on deaths from COVID-19 could be an important first step in public health response. “Data is a major political determinant of health. Daniel Dawes, executive director of the Thatcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse College of Medicine. Better data will help researchers like McNatt and Emerson better understand and respond to the health needs of Navajo residents.
This article was published in partnership with the Documenting COVID-19 project supported by Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and MuckRock. This project collects and shares government documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic and collaborates with partner newsrooms on investigative journalism projects.
this article first appeared in Arizona Investigative Reporting Center Republished here under a Creative Commons license.
