FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Helena Charley saw the Facebook post as we were talking on the phone.
“Somebody came on Facebook again,” she said from her Flagstaff home. “A young gentleman passed. I'm sure it’s COVID-19 related.”
Charley grew up on the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian reservation in the country. She has family there, in the small community of Chichinbeto.
A large church gathering in Chilchinbeto in early March is believed to be the coronavirus ground zero on the Navajo Nation.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham warned President Donald Trump this week about "incredible spikes" in coronavirus cases in Navajo Nation.
The pandemic, she warned, could "wipe out" some tribal nations, ABC News reported.
As of midday Wednesday, 142 coronavirus cases had been reported on Navajo Nation land in Arizona. The nation is spread over three states, including New Mexico and Utah.
Arizona’s had 1,413 reported cases statewide.
That makes the Navajo Nation home to 10% of the coronavirus cases statewide, on a reservation that accounts for about 3% of the state’s population.
A Bashas' supermarket on the reservation was forced to close down Wednesday after an employee was diagnosed with coronavirus.
The Arizona National Guard has ferried medical professionals and supplies to the nation.
Members of Congress say they set aside billions of dollars for the nation’s Native communities in their rescue package.
But much more needs to be done.
Nation leaders are trying everything – stay- in-place orders and curfews.
“We're just kind of like paralyzed,” Charley said. “The news keeps on coming that we lost another church member. family member.”
PREVIOUS STORIES:
