JUDY WOODRUFF: As
states continue to
move toward reopening,
today, the Navajo Nation
emerged from a strict weekend
lockdown and police-enforced
curfew, its seventh so far.
Native Americans have been
experiencing disproportionately
high rates of infection
and death from COVID-19.
In this report, part of
our series Race Matters,
Stephanie Sy explains
that even smaller tribes
consider the pandemic
an existential threat.
STEPHANIE SY: Ground zero for
COVID-19 cases in New Mexico
is the town of Gallup on the
edge of the Navajo Nation.
KELLY MANUELITO, Nurse,
Rehoboth McKinley Christian
Health Care Services: I'm like,
well, we live in Gallup.
It's not going to come here.
STEPHANIE SY: Navajo nurse
Kelly Manuelito treated the
first COVID-positive patient to
arrive at Rehoboth McKinley
Christian Health Care Services.
She works in the intensive
care unit.
KELLY MANUELITO: A lot of
Native families, there are at
least five or six to eight to
10 people living in
one household. And it's
really disheartening to
see that it can spread
so easily.
STEPHANIE SY: The staff of the
ICU was overwhelmed when they
saw a spike in COVID patients in
late April tied to an outbreak
among the homeless population.
KELLY MANUELITO: It's definitely
scary. I don't know one single
worker who is not scared
to come up. We have been working
extra hours, extra days, and
it's just been -- it's been
really rough.
STEPHANIE SY: She says she's
been able to take a break in
recent days. The New Mexico
governor lifted a week-long
lockdown after fewer cases
were recently reported.
But the toll has been
devastating on Native
peoples in New Mexico.
They account for 50
percent of the state's COVID-19
deaths, even though they make
up only 11 percent of the
population.
JOURDAN BENNETT-BEGAYE, Indian
Country Today: I grew up in
the northwestern part of New
Mexico.
STEPHANIE SY: Jourdan
Bennett-Begaye, a reporter
for Indian Country
Today, spends hours a day
compiling reports of Native
American COVID cases and
deaths. It's a stark spreadsheet
that tells a sad,
still unfolding story.
JOURDAN BENNETT-BEGAYE: There
was a point where, one day,
I saw -- I counted there are
60 people in the database. That
night, after recording like
10 deaths in one day, I broke
down. I did cry, because
then these are, you
know, my relatives.
STEPHANIE SY: Relative has
an expansive definition
in Indian country.
And on April 23, Valentina
Blackhorse, a former
Miss Western Navajo,
was added to that list.
Blackhorse lived in Kayenta, and
her boyfriend, a correctional
officer, had the virus. One
day after she tested positive,
she died at 28 years old.
VANIELLE BLACKHORSE, Sister
of Coronavirus Victim: I never
thought she would get sick,
because she kept telling us,
you know, stay home, wash
your hands, wear your mask.
STEPHANIE SY: Vanielle
Blackhorse spoke to
us a week after her
big sister was laid to
rest.
VANIELLE BLACKHORSE: How a
funeral should be, it wasn't
like that. There was no chairs.
There was no -- my mom couldn't
get comfort from her family.
We had to stay in the vehicles
until, you know,
they covered her.
I'm heartbroken. It seems like a
part of me has been ripped away.
STEPHANIE SY: In an effort to
save Native American lives,
tribal leaders have taken
strict measures, including
curfews and roadblocks.
And in Washington state, the
Lummi Nation has been uniquely
proactive in testing its
5,300 members.
WOMAN: That everyone stay
in their own homes and
avoid interaction with
your family members.
STEPHANIE SY: Springing into
action after the first case
in the U.S. was announced at
a locale one hour away
from the reservation.
DR. CRISTINA TOLEDO-CORNELL,
Public Health Director, Lummi
Tribal Health Center: So,
then we start putting
orders everywhere that
we could think of.
STEPHANIE SY: Dr. Cristina
Toledo-Cornell is the public
health director for the tribe.
Besides ordering testing
materials and medical
equipment early on, they
have been aggressively
contact tracing.
DR. CRISTINA TOLEDO-CORNELL:
So, to us, it was very important
to find every single case,
because, if we miss one or
two, that could be catastrophic
for a lot of people.
And that allowed us to really
be aggressive in terms of
relaxing the testing criteria,
then do as many
tests as we could.
STEPHANIE SY: As a result,
they have had dozens of
confirmed cases, but no deaths.
Back in New Mexico, there
are significant clusters of
cases in the state's Pueblos.
By one estimate, 11 percent of
the Zia Reservation of only 646
members were infected. At that
rate, leaders are concerned
about the risk of extinction.
GOV. JOSEPH TALACHY, Pueblo of
Pojoaque: We have been through
this before with the Spanish
Flu back in the early 1900s. The
Pueblo of Pojoaque was reduced
to just a few individuals.
STEPHANIE SY: Joseph
Talachy is governor of
the Pueblo of Pojoaque.
GOV. JOSEPH TALACHY: Our
history is passed down through
our language and through our
spoken stories. And so any
loss of our tribal elders
would be a loss to our history.
STEPHANIE SY: He shut
down the Pueblo early.
GOV. JOSEPH TALACHY: I knew
that there was going to be
consequences as well. You know
people were going to be upset.
STEPHANIE SY: The Buffalo
Thunder Casino Hotel
is closed for business
and instead being used
to house COVID-19 patients
from other area tribes. Casino
closures since the pandemic
are expected to directly affect
basic services on tribal lands.
GOV. JOSEPH TALACHY: But it
just takes a few mistakes to
get this virus to peak back up,
especially in Indian country.
BRYAN NEWLAND, Tribal
Chairperson, Bay Mills
Indian Community: An
economy doesn't mean
anything if you
don't have people.
STEPHANIE SY: In Northern
Michigan, Bryan Newland is the
tribal chairperson of the Bay
Mills Indian Community.
BRYAN NEWLAND: This pandemic's
impact on our community has
been almost entirely economic
at this point.
I would estimate that, right
now, we have about two-thirds
of our tribal employees out
of work. And then our tribe
has a pretty sizable commercial
fishing industry that's really
been hit hard.
STEPHANIE SY: Back on the Navajo
Nation, Karen Schell has felt
that economic hit too. She
runs a shop that's been in
the family since 1948 and
has been closed for months.
KAREN SCHELL, Owner, Chee's
Indian Store: I have just
hundreds and hundreds of Navajo
people that sell to me.
STEPHANIE SY: Lost business
for her means lost revenue
for her local chapter house.
KAREN SCHELL: Those moneys go
to our community here. I'm not
making anything. They're not
getting anything.
STEPHANIE SY: But she says,
just down the road from her
shop, fellow Navajo have died.
KAREN SCHELL: We know them
by name. And we know people
who are sick right now. So, I
think everybody on
the reservation knows
somebody who is sick.
STEPHANIE SY: Nurse Kelly
Manuelito, while taking care of
the sick, has been struggling
herself.
I understand you're a
mother, and have had to
distance from your child?
KELLY MANUELITO: I have.
It's been the hardest thing
to be away from her. Her name
is Hayden. She is 5. For the
past five years and nine months
of her life, I have told her
every day, come hug mommy,
come kiss mommy.
My mission as a nurse is, I am
here to protect. And my job as
a mother is to keep my daughter
safe, to keep her surrounded
by family and love.
STEPHANIE SY: Many will
say it's that kinship
that has helped Native
peoples survive, throughout
time and against all odds.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Stephanie Sy in Phoenix.