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Navajo Nation seeing a flattening of the curve in COVID-19 cases President Jonathan Nez says his people gave up a lot to save lives. and last updated 2020-12-22 20:52:46-05 NAVAJO NATION â With the coming of the Winter Solstice that marks the changing of seasons, there is a glimmer of hope in the fight against COVID-19 in one of the hardest-hit communities in Arizona. The Navajo Nation is celebrating a small victory after seeing their COVID-19 curve flattening during the second deadly wave of the pandemic that has hit the Navajo Nation hard. The Navajo Nation's COVID-19 dashboard reflects more than 21,000 cases and 748 deaths since the pandemic began. While sobering, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez says it also shows that all of the strict measures his community has been following since March 2020 have been working. This includes a mask mandate, strict hygiene measures, stay at home orders, and the toughest one for so many families was mandatory lockdowns that have closed off travel in and out of the Navajo Nation.
Over the years, I've seen the changes within our land here. Quote icon But he ran into an issue. “The river bottom where I gather material on the south side is where Mesa’s sewage plant is.” He believes the sewage plant’s discharges affect the groundwater and makes the bark too brittle to use as post ties. “The bark broke too easily, and I couldn’t use it to tie anything down,” he said. Manuel had to resort to wire to finish the watto. Manuel also said that arrowweed ( Pluchea sericea) doesn’t grow as abundantly as it once did. Not only is it in short supply due to the decline of riparian areas, but when he does find it, the plants have growths or other imperfections. That means he has to travel to more isolated areas to gather arrowweed that hasn’t been affected by human activity.