• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • UIO Directory
  • NCUIH Trading Post
  • Contact
  • Donate
NCUIH
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Career Opportunities
    • Internship and Fellowship Program
    • Make an Impact
    • NCUIH Store
  • Research
    • Knowledge Resource Center
    • Third Party Billing
    • Population Health Resources
    • Urban Indian Health Information Technology (HIT)
    • Research Blog
  • Community Health Programming
    • Public Health Campaigns
    • COVID-19 Resource Center
    • COVID-19 Initiative Grants
    • Facts about UIOs
    • Project Firstline
  • Policy
    • Policy Resource Center
    • Advance Appropriations
    • Legislative Priorities
    • Regulation Tracker
    • Legislative Tracker
    • Budget Formulation
    • Policy Blog
  • Technical Assistance
    • Training and Webinars
    • Community of Learning
    • One-on-One Technical Assistance
    • Youth Advisory Council
    • Funding Opportunities
  • Media and Events
    • NCUIH in the News
    • Press
    • NCUIH Events
    • Media Toolkits & Resources
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Posts

NCUIH in the News: Salt Lake Tribune – ‘We are not ready for this’: Native American tribes struggle to deal with coronavirus

March 9, 2020/0 Comments/in News /by Meredith Raimondi
By Jourdan Bennett-Begaye | Indian Country Today
Published: 5 days ago
Updated: 4 days ago

Washington • Dean Seneca didn’t mince words after the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s recent “damaging news” about the spread of the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide, including nine in Washington state.

“I want to make sure that I stated that tribes are not prepared for the coronavirus,” he texted Indian Country Today a day after an interview in which he was more cautious.

“I don’t think that we are as prepared as we should be,” Seneca – who has worked more than 18 years in the Centers for Disease Control’s Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support – had said in the interview.

What changed overnight? Two things: The infection rate and the length of time an infected person shows no sign of the disease.

The first example was the Diamond Princess cruise ship incident in which one passenger on board, as well as one who had left the ship earlier, tested positive for COVID-19. A two-week quarantine resulted in 45 passengers becoming infected.

Seneca said health officials now know “that people will have this virus, not show symptoms and still be able to transmit the virus. That is scary.”

Viruses usually are contagious at the peak, he said. For example, in the first two days you’re slowing getting sick and on the third day, you’re at a height of an infection. People you come into contact with can get sick. It’s for sure.

‘We really are not ready for it now’

Nez wants to bring in community health representatives to educate tribal elders.

Nez and Dr. Jill Jim, executive director of the Navajo Department of Health, recently gave updates and prevention tips during an appearance on KTNN radio in Window Rock, the nation’s capital.

“There are no cases of the coronavirus on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said, “but this is a very serious health concern and it’s vital that we continue to provide information with everyone, including students, elderly and community members.”

The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona and the California Tribal Epidemiology Centers have been disseminating information to tribes within their states. California also is contingency planning and developing scenario-based exercises for their tribal health clinics. The Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center sends out COVID-19 documents from the CDC and “daily key points” to the tribal health directors.

Seneca said tribes need the resources to tackle the threat head-on.

“The other is that our health care systems are really not in place, nor do we have experts, as physicians and nurses that know or are familiar with this kind of foreign virus,” he said.

“I just wanted to make it clear that we are not ready for this. We really are not ready for it now.”

The National Council of Urban Indian Health sent a letter to Congress on Feb. 28, urging lawmakers to honor the trust responsibility to urban Indians. The council asked Congress to include “urban Indian organizations” when approving emergency funding to prevent and treat COVID-19. It also requested “at the very least $94 million for emergency funding and health education/promotion” for urban Indian organizations.

In a March 2 press release, Francys Crevier, executive director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health, requested funds for the council’s 41 urban Indian organizations in 22 states.

“The U.S. government cannot allow (urban Indian organization) patients to die during a COVID-19 outbreak due to unavailability of critical services. UIOs operate on such low funding margins that interruptions in daily operations … have dire effects and have been forced to close entirely.”

Urban Indian organizations receive their funding from one source: Indian Health Service, which has one budget line for the 41 urban Indian organizations. Seventy percent of the American Indian and Alaska Native population resides in urban areas, according to the 2010 Census.

Kevin English directs the Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center in Albuquerque, which serves 27 tribes in New Mexico and Colorado.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2020/03/04/we-are-not-ready-this/

https://ncuih.org/wp-content/uploads/Website-Graphics-Logo-Package_NCUIH_D081_V1_NCUIH-News.png 1126 1501 Meredith Raimondi https://ncuih.org/wp-content/uploads/NCUIH-2022-Logos_Full-Logo-3.png Meredith Raimondi2020-03-09 15:37:332022-08-08 15:41:29NCUIH in the News: Salt Lake Tribune – ‘We are not ready for this’: Native American tribes struggle to deal with coronavirus

Recent Posts

  • NCUIH Recommendations Included in Report on Improving the Health and Safety of American Indian and Alaska Native Mothers and Infants
  • Supreme Court Held Oral Argument on Case Challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act
  • Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), USDA
  • Office for Civil Rights (OCR), HHS, SAMHSA
  • Indian Health Services

Recent Comments

  • Cass (she/her) on ICWA’s Constitutionality Challenged and Review by the Supreme Court Underway
  • PeterDeLong on ICWA’s Constitutionality Challenged and Review by the Supreme Court Underway
  • Angela Tienda on ICWA’s Constitutionality Challenged and Review by the Supreme Court Underway
  • Carmelita Birdhead on ICWA’s Constitutionality Challenged and Review by the Supreme Court Underway
  • Douglas Richards on ICWA’s Constitutionality Challenged and Review by the Supreme Court Underway

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • August 219

Categories

  • Covid-19
  • IPC
  • Knowledge Resource Center
  • Media Mention
  • News
  • Policy Blog
  • Press Release
  • Regulation Tracker
  • Research
  • Statement
  • Uncategorized

Menu
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Career Opportunities
    • Internship and Fellowship Program
    • Make an Impact
    • NCUIH Store
  • Research
    • Knowledge Resource Center
    • Third Party Billing
    • Population Health Resources
    • Urban Indian Health Information Technology (HIT)
    • Research Blog
  • Community Health Programming
    • Public Health Campaigns
    • COVID-19 Resource Center
    • COVID-19 Initiative Grants
    • Facts about UIOs
    • Project Firstline
  • Policy
    • Policy Resource Center
    • Advance Appropriations
    • Legislative Priorities
    • Regulation Tracker
    • Legislative Tracker
    • Budget Formulation
    • Policy Blog
  • Technical Assistance
    • Training and Webinars
    • Community of Learning
    • One-on-One Technical Assistance
    • Youth Advisory Council
    • Funding Opportunities
  • Media and Events
    • NCUIH in the News
    • Press
    • NCUIH Events
    • Media Toolkits & Resources
    • Newsletter Archive

National Council of Urban Indian Health
924 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003

Phone: 202.544.0344

CONTACT US
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Scroll to top