It's been nearly two weeks since LeChee Chapter President Jerry Williams confirmed that yes, his community had a positive COVID-19 case.

"It's nothing that we've ever faced before," Williams said. When he first heard about it, he panicked. "I thought, why my community?"

As of April 2, his community has six positive COVID-19 cases. They are beyond numbers to him — he knows all of them and he's met them before. He feels helpless. There is so much that is unknown about the virus and how it will change his life and community.

"You can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't smell it. That's the worst thing and it's frustrating," Williams added.

Williams said he is only provided with county numbers and no details about who may be sick in his community. So, when he figured out one of his community members was ill on March 20, Williams said he started his own investigation to find out how this happened and began reaching out for more information about the community members he knew had tested positive.

"I made contact with their siblings or close relatives," Williams said, to make sure his information was accurate.

This led him to a church rally held by the Chilchinbeto Church of the Nazarene in early March.

Williams identified a group of about 10 church members, some from LeChee Chapter, others from the Page area and Cameron Chapter, who attended the rally and started showing symptoms soon afterward.

Williams said five of the LeChee community members who tested positive for COVID-19 attended that rally, and they are in various hospitals being treated.

"They're still hanging in there," he said. "I hope the very best for them because we don't want to lose anybody."

The first positive COVID-19 case on the Navajo Nation was announced on March 17, and the Navajo Nation Department of Health reported it was a 46-year-old individual from Chilchinbeto, Arizona.

"We tried to keep this virus off our nation, but it snuck in," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said. "It snuck in because of an outside event that one of our members went to and brought that back into the Nation and boy did it take off, that virus just spread."

Nez did not provide any details on the type of event or how many people were impacted in the community, but since the first case was announced, the Chilchinbeto community has been closed off in isolation.

"Today they're still locked down but we're doing our best to get the food and essential items to those community members," Nez said.

There have been reports that the outbreak could be connected to the church rally that happened in the Chilchinbeto community, but Nez said it's hard to know.

"Chilchinbeto is a real tight-knit community and there is a lot of functions that happened at that time," Nez said.

There was the church rally, but there was also a traditional ceremony and other family functions around the same time.

The investigation is being led by officials with the Navajo Epidemiology Department, and they are having a hard time tracking individual movements in some cases, Nez said, because people frequently travel on and off the Navajo Nation.

Even though the spread started in Chilchinbeto, Nez wants to remind the Navajo people this virus came from off the Navajo Nation. "It did not originate in Chilchinbeto."

From the investigations being done, Nez said: "We know it may have come from Tucson."

It has been nearly a month since the first case was reported, and as of April 9, the Navajo Nation has 558 cases with 22 confirmed deaths. Nearly 2,400 people have tested negative for COVID-19.

The Navajo Nation is the only tribe in the state and nationally to be hit by COVID-19 this intensely.

Navajo Nation officials issued their first warning about the potential spread of COVID-19 to the Navajo people on Jan. 26. About a month later, the Navajo Nation COVID-19 Preparedness Team was formed.

Nez said he knew they needed to be proactive about the coronavirus. On March 11, by the time the virus reached all states surrounding the Navajo Nation, he declared a state of emergency. They were the first tribe in Arizona to declare an emergency and two days ahead of the White House's national emergency declaration.

The tribe reduced all nonessential tribal government services until April 26. Schools, casinos, tribal parks and tourist sites have been closed, and outside visitors have been asked not to come onto tribal land.

Need for medical supplies grows

As the public health risk continues to grow in the Navajo Nation, the need for personnel, protective wear, hospital beds and other crucial resources and supplies at all health care facilities continues to increase.

“We’ve reached a point where our medical facilities and health care workers are in dire need of more personal protective equipment, hospital beds, and other critical resources,” Nez said.

Some supplies have come in from the Strategic National Stockpile, Nez said, but he has been told some of the shipments won't last more than a week.

The Navajo Nation health care system cannot withstand or take care of the high number of people coming in sick, he said.

The Indian Health Service provides health care services across the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Area IHS has 12 health care facilities on tribal land and two in towns near the Navajo Nation. IHS health facilities on the Navajo Nation include 170 beds, 13 ICU beds, 52 available isolation rooms and 28 ventilators, said Dr. Loretta Christensen, chief medical officer for the Navajo Area Indian Health Service.

To help fight the spread of COVID-19, the Navajo Nation government passed an emergency resolution on March 20 appropriating $4 million to the Navajo Department of Health.

With no funding coming from the federal government yet, Nez said this was the best way for the Navajo government to help with resources.

Congress has passed the largest emergency aid package in U.S. history, but Nez said: "Not one penny of those dollars have yet come into Navajo or have yet come into Indian Country."

"We feel the United States Government has once again ignored or even left out the first residents, the first people, the first citizens of this country," Nez said.

The frustration behind the lack of funding for tribes from the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act has been voiced by numerous people, including Arizona members of Congress.

In a letter recently sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Rep. Tom O'Halleran said: “As the number of cases on Navajo has doubled, then tripled, my colleagues and I have made call after call on the federal entities charged with disbursing the dedicated funding for Tribes we fought for across three legislative packages. Thus far, we have seen delay and confusion from federal agencies, which has led to an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths on the Navajo Nation."

The Navajo Nation has received help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which delivered beds, blankets, personal protective equipment and other essential items to Chinle, Arizona. A federal medical station was also set up inside the Chinle Community Center.

"We're continuing to work hard every day to bring more and more resources," Nez said. They're using the Wildcat Den in Chinle as a distribution center for the supplies coming in from the Strategic Stockpile and what the Navajo Nation is purchasing.

“We haven’t nearly reached the peak of the virus — that’s what’s our health care experts are telling us," Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer said. "So, we need to be proactive and do everything we can to prepare for the worse."

The National Guard assisted the Tuba City Regional Health Care Center in setting up tent facilities at the local fairgrounds to be used as medical stations.

The Navajo Nation will also receive 250 COVID-19 sample collection kits from the University of Arizona, according to a press release.

The Navajo Nation needs these tests to help protect its community, said University of Arizona President Dr. Robert C. Robbins. "We are sending these sample collection kits in the hopes they can assist in their efforts to address COVID-19."

Relief efforts across the Navajo Nation

Since COVID-19 reached the Navajo Nation, relief efforts from various entities have stepped up to help Navajo people in need, especially for the most vulnerable populations like the elderly and disabled. Efforts include food, medical supplies, cleaning supplies, water, firewood and coal available to the community.

The Navajo Nation is home for over 170,000 people and approximately 15,000 families do not have electricity, according to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. Assuming there are about four people per home, that’s about 60,000 people without electricity. The number is higher for people without access to running water. NTUA said they have 16,000 homes without access to running water.

Hauling water on the Navajo Nation is a way of life. That makes one of the biggest prevention measures against COVID-19, washing your hands, difficult because of access to water.

All 110 chapter houses, the Navajo Nation regional and local governments, are closed to the public for any type of gathering, but many are still offering essential services to the community, including water and solid waste disposal, said Dr. Pearl Yellowman, director for the Navajo Nation Division of Community Development.

NTUA has four water stations available to the public at district offices, said Deenise Becenti, government and public affairs manager with NTUA. They are at the Dilkon, Tuba City and Kayenta offices in Arizona and their New Mexico office in Shiprock.

"Hauling water is an essential service and we are open," Becenti said.

The Navajo Nation is also considered a food desert. Residents of the vast expanse of land have access to roughly 11 full-service grocery stores: eight Bashas' Diné Markets, two Lowe's Shop N' Saves, and one City Market serve the entire Navajo Nation, which spans over 27,000 miles across three states.

Navajo Nation officials are advising residents to only leave their homes for essential items and to send one person, though families often have to travel far distances to reach a grocery store on or off the Navajo Nation. There's a "stay at home" order in place and a curfew set from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Navajo officials set up the Navajo Health Command Operations Center in Kayenta on March 21. The center will handle the distribution of care packages to elders and vulnerable families in the area. They are distributing packages to the still-isolated Chilchinbeto community first, then they'll move onto other communities. The care packages include food, medical supplies, cleaning supplies and other items.

"We are a small team," said Incident Commander Lucinda Charleston; therefore, the team is delivering 25 to 30 meal packages at a time.

"We do still have several miles to cover, but we're doing our best," she added.

Two 100-gallon water tanks and several trash bins have been set up in the Chilchinbeto community, she said, in an effort to provide families with what they need so they can stay home.

"There are over 1,200 individuals in this community," Charleston said. "We're trying to help them by providing necessary supplies."

The Navajo Nation is accepting donations to assist with COVID-19 relief efforts, like care package efforts through the Navajo Health Command Operations Center.

The Arizona Midwest Food Bank made a donation to help the Chilchinbeto community after the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) reached out, donating 200 family food boxes, 48 cases of bread and 4100 pounds of food, said Ted Purdy, community relations director for Arizona Midwest Food Bank.

It is not only large entities helping people on the Navajo Nation, but there are also smaller programs and grassroots efforts stepping up.

The Navajo and Hopi Relief Fund

For instance, a GoFundMe called the Navajo & Hopi Relief Fund was created March 15 by former Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch. To date, it has raised over $270,000.

The group is helping families with groceries, water and health supplies, said Cassandra Begay, the public information officer for the group. They are following sanitation needs and volunteers are practicing social distancing, but they're also delivering items to safe transfer locations.

"It's a very grassroots-led effort, we're a group of people who are very passionate about our communities and our nation," Begay said. "We needed to get to folks quickly, we couldn't just wait for the Navajo Nation (government)."

The first request for help came in on March 22. Four days later, they had over 1400 requests, Begay said, and most of them are elders.

"It's overwhelming," Begay said, because there is such a dire need for help across the Navajo Nation. "We need all the help we can get."

Begay said water is a huge need, and if they could get someone that would be willing to help them just distribute water to these communities, that would be very helpful.

People can request help by either calling, emailing or filling out the help request form online. The group does not have a website yet, but they are on Facebook if you search Navajo & Hopi Relief Fund. They can be reached at 833-956-1554, and the online form can be found here. Begay said suppliers and volunteers can also reach out to the Navajo & Hopi Relief Fund if they'd like to help.

Elder program provides grocery certificates

Another program helping out elders on the Navajo Nation is the Adopt-A-Native-Elder program based in Utah. The program serves Navajo elders age 75 and older and currently assists 720 elders across the Navajo Nation.

Since COVID-19 has impacted the community, Adopt-A-Native-Elder Director Linda Myers said she has a warehouse full of boxes that can't be delivered to elders due to safety. Elders receive boxes with various items like clothes, medicine, food or even yarn.

"That is the sad part," she said, and each of the boxes has the elder's name on it. "We had all this ready and packed to go."

Myers said she's never missed a delivery to the Navajo Nation in the 35 years she's been doing this program.

Not being able to take the boxes out, Myers said they still needed to help the elders in the program, so they are distributing $100,000 in Bashas' food certificates.

"We're turning everything we can into food certificates through Bashas'," Myers said, and they'll be sending out the certificates in the mail over the next two months. They'll be sending out $25, $50 and $100 certificates.

"Each elder is going to get a lot of support," she said, and they are still accepting donations and raising money to send out more.

Reporter Shondiin Silversmith covers Indigenous people and communities in Arizona. Reach her at ssilversmi@arizonarepublic.com and follow her Twitter @DiinSilversmith.

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