The coronavirus pandemic hit Native Americans especially hard.
But as the spotlight turned to larger communities like the Navajo Nation,
the much smaller White Mountain Apache Tribe, in eastern Arizona,
quietly battled to save its people.
Photos and text by Alberto Mariani/Cronkite News | May 4, 2021
Justin Tafoya, left, a registered nurse and public information officer, talks with Lafe Altaha before a nurse checks his vitals at his home in Whiteriver, Arizona.
WHITERIVER – Last year, the community of 15,000 in eastern Arizona was considered a hotspot. By Sept. 1, five months after its first recorded COVID case, the tribe had 2,400 cases and had lost 39 people. Over the next six months, there were 1,500 new cases and just 10 additional deaths.
Is there hope for COVID with home visits?
Health care has been hanging by a thread for some time in our community and across the nation. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses inherent in an underfunded public health system, a monopolized hospital, and a fractured medical supply chain.
At the beginning of this pandemic, I wrote, “Our lives will not be saved by the government. And lives will not be saved by elected officials or large institutions. Lives will be saved by everyday decisions made by responsible citizens in Washington State and the rest of the nation.”
As Kitsap County faces an outbreak of COVID-19 at a local hospital, my opinion hasn’t changed all that much.