Fighting COVID-19 in the Navajo Nation, with President Jonathan Nez (EP.22)
Civic Rx
English - March 11, 2021 10:30 - 47 minutes - 33 MBMedicine Health & Fitness Science Social Sciences covid19 election medicine pandemic politics publichealth Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
For much of the last year, the highest per capita rate of coronavirus infections belonged not to New York City, nor New Jersey, but to a 27,000-square-mile territory in the southwestern US called the Navajo Nation. Encompassing 3 states and 309,000 members, the Navajo Nation is the country’s largest Native American tribe.
It was also, in 2020, one of its worst hot spots. But the COVID-19 crisis, like so many others that have afflicted Indian Country, was decades in the making — borne of a long legacy of neglect and promises broken by the U.S. government.
Here to share the unique challenges his people have navigated, their successes, as well as their priorities with a more receptive US administration, is Jonathan Nez, the 9th President of the Navajo Nation, and the youngest in its history. I learned a lot from him and am excited for you to hear what he has to say.
To learn more about the Navajo Nation, check out:
- this brief retelling of their history
- the Navajo Department of Health’s page on COVID-19
- President Nez’s testimony to the U.S. House last July, about tribal needs amid the pandemic
- this CNN feature on their tremendously successful vaccination campaign
To listen to more Civic Rx, visit us at civic-rx.org.
For much of the last year, the highest per capita rate of coronavirus infections belonged not to New York City, nor New Jersey, but to a 27,000-square-mile territory in the southwestern US called the Navajo Nation. Encompassing 3 states and 309,000 members, the Navajo Nation is the country’s largest Native American tribe.
It was also, in 2020, one of its worst hot spots. But the COVID-19 crisis, like so many others that have afflicted Indian Country, was decades in the making — borne of a long legacy of neglect and promises broken by the U.S. government.
Here to share the unique challenges his people have navigated, their successes, as well as their priorities with a more receptive US administration, is Jonathan Nez, the 9th President of the Navajo Nation, and the youngest in its history. I learned a lot from him and am excited for you to hear what he has to say.
To learn more about the Navajo Nation, check out:
- this brief retelling of their history
- the Navajo Department of Health’s page on COVID-19
- President Nez’s testimony to the U.S. House last July, about tribal needs amid the pandemic
- this CNN feature on their tremendously successful vaccination campaign
To listen to more Civic Rx, visit us at civic-rx.org.