As the country awaits action on the next round of COVID relief, one population in particular has a great deal to lose during the wait: Native Americans, one of America’s poorest and most neglected communities. This is emblematic of a problem I pointed to in March. One of the risks we faced, I said, is that although low-income communities and communities of color would likely be deeply impacted by COVID-19 there was significant danger they would be forgotten or under-served in relief efforts.
Sadly, this prediction has ended up being truer than I imagined, and nowhere is it clearer than in the country’s Native American communities. As of June 5, five tribal nations (White Mountain Apache, Pueblo of Zia, Pueblo of San Felipe, Navajo Nation, and Kewa Pueblo) had higher per 100,000 case counts than any American state, including the pandemic’s early ground-zero, New York.
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