Some celebrities have begun helping the Navajo Nation with efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus by donating supplies and spreading awareness as the Navajo Nation surpasses New York for the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the country.

The Navajo Nation has over 4,700 reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 157 deaths associated with the disease, as of May 25. The Navajo Nation has more than 250,000 members and spans over 27,000 square miles across three states — northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southern Utah.

Nearly 1,500 of those people have recovered from the virus, according to updated numbers from the Navajo Department of Health.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said "the curve is flattening" despite increases in testing.

"The Navajo Nation continues to test at a higher rate per capita than any state in the country," Nez said in a statement Monday, adding that 14.6% of citizens have been tested so far.

The infection rate in Kayenta exceeds the worst hit ZIP codes in New York City, however New York ZIP codes have far more COVID-19 deaths.

Larry Mullen Jr. of U2 joins Ireland by donating to relief fund

Larry Mullen Jr., Irish musician and co-founder of the band U2, donated $100,000 to an online fundraiser providing relief for Navajo and Hopi families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Including Mullen's donation, over 25,500 Irish donors have given over $870,000 to Navajo and Hopi elders and families, according to a statement from the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund.

In early May, donations from Irish donors to the campaign began to spike when many were compelled to contribute after learning of the crisis on the Navajo Nation.

The donations were made in reciprocation of the actions of another U.S. tribe from more than 170 years ago. In 1847, the Choctaw Nation raised the modern-day equivalent of more than $5,000 for starving Irish families during the potato famine.

“We feel real kinship with the Irish, who have a shared legacy of colonization, and we are truly grateful for Mr. Mullen’s donation and all donations that have come from our Irish brethren. Go raibh maith agat and ahéhee’! Someday we hope to repay you for these beautiful and meaningful acts of solidarity made during our time of great need,” former Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch, founder of the relief fund, said in the statement.

Mullen's donation is enough to fund a week's worth of food and water deliveries to about 1,000 households on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.

The Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund is working to provide each family with two weeks of food "in an effort to flatten the curve for the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe."

Sean Penn's non-profit to help provide more testing resources

Actor Sean Penn, who founded disaster relief nonprofit organization Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, visited the Navajo Nation Friday to meet with President Jonathan Nez to provide more resources for COVID-19 testing.

He visited the community of Nazlini, which is about 20 miles south of Chinle, during one of Navajo Nation's distributions of food and essential items, according to a Facebook post from Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer's page.

Penn is looking to partner with Nez to provide help increase testing and assist with contact tracing, the process by which public health investigators find everyone a positive case recently interacted with, according to the Facebook post.

Nez thanked Penn and CORE on Twitter, saying "we look forward to working together."

Penn's organization helped to safely distribute COVID-19 drive-thru testing in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported.

According to CORE's website, the organization has helped to administer over 52,000 tests so far in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Malibu and Napa Valley in California.

Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi donate face shields for medical staff

Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi's donated about 240 face shields to the Navajo Nation through de Rossi's art company, General Public.

General Public is an art publishing company that uses 3-D technology to make textured prints of paintings. The company partnered with MultiCam to create the 3-D printed face shields, according to a press release from the Navajo Nation Council.

The protective face shields were delivered May 6 to Crownpoint Health Care Facility, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services and Gallup Indian Medical Center.

Melissa Shoemaker, a Navajo Nation citizen who lives in Chicago, said her sister works at a health care center on the Navajo Nation and she told her they were "running dangerously low on personal protective equipment," according to the press release. Shoemaker then reached out to General Public after seeing a video of DeGeneres and de Rossi talking about donating the face shields.

"I decided to reach out to Ellen and Portia as a shot in the dark. Thankfully, General Public's president Randi Spieker responded to my inquiry and immediately began coordinating the donation to be flown by Michael Rogers, the company's founder and pilot, to Gallup for distribution," Shoemaker said in the press release.

Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty thanked Shoemaker for taking the initiative to have the face shields delivered to the Navajo Nation, according to the press release.

“And I am very grateful for Ellen, Portia, Randi, Michael and General Public for immediately responding to the Navajo Nation’s call for aid. The Nation will be forever grateful to them and I would like to recognize their contribution to helping our impacted communities," Crotty said in the press release.

Jason Momoa sends water to Tuba City

Jason Momoa, an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles in "Game of Thrones" and "Aquaman," sent 20,000 cans of his Mananula Pure Water to the Navajo Nation, according to Cassandra Begay, a spokesperson for Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund is an "all volunteer grassroots indigenous led group operating on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations," according to its website, navajohopisolidarity.org.

An associated GoFundMe has raised more than $874,000 as of Monday evening. It is not clear who is managing the money or if the fund is registered as a nonprofit.

The Navajo Nation has a shortage of running water. In many households, the only source of water is to haul it in, bottle by bottle or barrel by barrel, from a communal supply point.

At least 15% of Navajo Nation homes have no running water at all, according to the official tribal tally, but the real number may be 40% to 50%.

"One-third of Navajo and Hopi families in this era must travel miles to haul water, while only 16 grocery stores and small food markets serve the entire area," according to Begay.

Momoa posted on Instagram to announce his delivery of the cans of water to the Navajo Nation.

"My water company is still small but I’m doing what I can to help those that need it the most," Momoa said in the Instagram post.

Momoa also talked about his efforts on The Ellen Show last week saying "we are taking a lot of our supplies and donating to a lot of places that need it."

He thanked "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" for helping him donate to the places that do not have clean water.

The Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Effort will include the water donated in food baskets that provide two weeks of food to households, according to Begay.

The effort has served over 1,500 families in 40 communities on the Navajo Nation and in four out of the 12 Hopi villages.

Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd and Taika Waititi help project efforts to educate

Protect the Sacred is an initiative created to educate Navajo youth to rise up and protect the nation's elders, languages, medicine ways and cultures during the coronavirus pandemic.

The project was started to help give information to the youth on how to keep their families safe and stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Navajo Nation.

Actors Mark Ruffalo and Paul Rudd and director Taika Waititi have participated in Protect the Sacred livestreamed Facebook events and have used social media to spread the word, according to the initiative's website.

They participated in a Facebook livestreamed event April 10 with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez calling on young people to stay inside during the weekend curfew to help stop the spread of the virus.

"I know it's tough to be inside as a young person — there is nothing that anyone could do to hold me inside the house as a kid — it's not just about saving ourselves and our grandparents but this thing attacks young people, and hundreds and hundreds of young people have died from it already. It's indiscriminate on who it gets," Ruffalo said in the livestream.

He also said the initiative is starting a challenge called "Hero and Shero" for young children to overcome the challenges of staying inside. He said if the challenges are overcome, he will come out to the Navajo Nation and throw a "party" to make up for the parties they're missing during the curfew.

The challenge includes four activities for youth to participate in with their families. Families can sign up on protectthesacred.care.

The initiative stresses the importance of protecting the elders because they are the ones who teach the youth the culture, lessons, and way of life on the Navajo Nation.

"The priority for us is to take care of the elders and our babies," Waititi said on the livestream. He also is indigenous — he is of Māori heritage.

Health officials recommend social distancing to reduce the spread of the disease.

“If people are not going to be spreading it and getting in touch with other people it will go away. It's the best thing that we can do," Rudd said in the livestream.

Late Sen. Barry Goldwater's granddaughter delivers hazmat suits

While Barry Goldwater may not be at the same level of fame as modern actors, the late senator is known nationally as the libertarian firebrand who lost a presidential election but inspired a new conservative movement.

His granddaughter's foundation partnered with Blok Industries to deliver 20,000 hazmat suits to help COVID-19 response for the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe.

The hazmat suits will protect first responders against the virus, according to a spokesperson for the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation.

Goldwater's granddaughter, Alison Goldwater Ross, create the foundation "to digitize, curate, restore and preserve Goldwater’s extensive collection of 15,000 negatives and 25 miles of historical images primarily of Arizona’s native people and landscapes," a press release said.

GOLDWATER'S GRANDDAUGHTER:Why she wants to share his photography with the world

After the pandemic started, Goldwater Ross wanted to focus the foundation to help find resources for aid to support the Hopi and Navajo tribes, the press release said.

The hazmat suits are transported from Blok Industries, a safety and disaster relief provider, in Alabama for distribution to the Navajo Nation.

Ross worked directly with Hope MacDonald-LoneTree, a former Navajo Nation councilwoman and daughter of past Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald, because of the "personal and professional history between Barry Goldwater and Peter MacDonald," the press release said.

“We are very grateful to the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation for reaching out to Blok Industries on behalf of the Hopi community to provide PPE supplies and hazmat suits for our first responders," Hopi Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma said in the press release.

Those interested in donating to the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation to help bring relief to communities affected by the new coronavirus can visit goldwaterfoundation.org

Reach breaking news reporter Alyssa Stoney at alyssa.stoney@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @stoney_alyssa