{"id":19618,"date":"2022-01-06T18:34:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T23:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=19618"},"modified":"2022-01-06T18:34:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T23:34:32","slug":"indian-country-starts-off-new-year-with-surge-in-covid-19-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/01\/06\/indian-country-starts-off-new-year-with-surge-in-covid-19-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Country starts off new year with surge in COVID-19 cases"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President: COVID-19 Town Hall – January 4, 2022<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Indian Country starts off new year with surge in COVID-19 cases<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, January 6, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTribal communities across the nation are once again seeing an explosion in COVID-19<\/a> cases following the busy holiday season and as a new and highly contagious variant brings upheaval to Indian Country.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nSome tribes are reimposing lockdowns, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic almost two years ago. Others are warning of negative impacts to their health care systems due to the Omicron variant<\/a> that is spreading quickly throughout the United States.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cOf course you know that the Omicron variant throughout the country has surpassed the Delta variant,\u201d President Jonathan Nez<\/a> of the Navajo Nation<\/a> said during a COVID-19 town hall<\/a> on Tuesday.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cIt was just our time, I guess, that Omicron is here,\u201d Nez said from the largest reservation<\/a> in the country.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"Navajo<\/a>

The Navajo Nation confirmed its first case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant through surveillance and sequencing of coronavirus results. Image: Navajo Nation Office of President and Vice President<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Navajo Nation confirmed its first Omicron case<\/a> on Monday, on the Utah portion of the reservation. The variant arrived despite a high COVID-19 vaccination rate — more than 72 percent of tribal citizens over the age of 12 have been fully inoculated as of Wednesday, according to the latest data<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut strong public health measures are proving no match to the Omicron, which has contributed to sky-high infection rates across the U.S. ever since it was first confirmed on December 1.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWe did our very best,\u201d Nez said of his tribe, one of the two largest, in terms of citizenship numbers. \u201cWe did extremely, extremely well, pushing this, keeping this variant off the Navajo Nation.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cBut it’s all around us,\u201d Nez added, pointing COVID-19 data from the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. \u201cIt’s everywhere. It’s very contagious.\u201d\r\n

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\ud83d\udccc Attention Cherokee Nation Health Services patients: Like health centers across the country, Cherokee Nation Health Services is also currently experiencing a shortage of monoclonal antibody (MAB)…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nThe other largest tribe is experiencing upheaval as well, reporting a shortage of monoclonal antibody (MAB) medication<\/a>, which has been used to treat COVID-19 illness in patients. Even so, the Cherokee Nation<\/a> on Wednesday warned that the treatment doesn’t appear to be as effective when it comes to Omicron.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cCurrent monoclonal medication studies have also been found to have limited effectiveness against infection with the Omicron variant,\u201d a post on social media<\/a> from the 14-county reservation in northeastern Oklahoma read. \u201cAs a result, the federal government has reduced the supply of MAB to prioritize more effective treatments, and Cherokee Nation is diligently working to acquire those newer treatments as they become available.\u201d \r\n

<\/p>\r\nOther tribal communities are confronting the fallout from Christmas, when families gathered in large numbers and people traveled at levels not seen in two years. The Pueblo of Laguna<\/a>, for instance, began the first full week of 2022 on Monday by reporting a \u201csudden spike in COVID-19 cases\u201d<\/a> that leadership attributed to the holiday season.\r\n

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ANNOUNCEMENT: The POL EOC is providing an update to the COVID-19 cases within the Pueblo boundaries. As of tonight, the Pueblo has received an increase in positive COVID-19 cases to include one…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\n By Wednesday, the tribe reinstated strict measures affecting travel to and from the reservation<\/a>, which is located along a busy interstate, not far from the most populous city in New Mexico. Additionally, a public ceremony connected to the swearing-in of new officials at Laguna was canceled on the eve<\/a> of the annual event.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n Pueblo tribes elsewhere in the state, which typically hold leadership ceremonies on January 6, also imposed limits on public gatherings<\/a> amid the coronavirus wave sweeping the nation.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAnd no corner of Indian Country is being spared. According to the latest data from the Indian Health Service<\/a>, COVID-19 cases have exploded dramatically — and in every region — following the Christmas holiday.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAs of Wednesday, the 7-day rolling average positivity rate climbed to a record 21.7 percent<\/a>, the highest since the IHS began releasing data nearly two years ago. The rate is calculated by tallying the number of coronavirus tests that have returned positive for COVID-19 over a seven-day period.\r\n

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COVID-19 cases have exploded in Indian Country after the Christmas holiday, according to Indian Health Service data. As of January 5, 2022, all 12 @IHSgov areas have high 7-day #COVID19 positivity rates, some breaking records since onset of #Coronavirus. https:\/\/t.co\/Opw1Ps45hQ<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nOn December 25, 2021, the 7-day rate had been 9.1 percent<\/a>. That means the IHS has seen a 138 percent increase in COVID-19 cases since Christmas, based on the rolling average positivity data.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nGetting vaccinated remains one of the best ways to protect against COVID-19, according to public health officials. During a visit to an urban Indian provider in northern California in early December, Elizabeth Fowler, the acting director of the IHS<\/a>, said the agency was ramping up efforts to remind and encourage people to complete their dosage series and get boosted as soon as possible.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe are doing all we can to get the word out about COVID-19 vaccine booster clinics and eligibility,\u201d Fowler said at the Native American Health Center<\/a> in Oakland on December 7. \u201cIHS plans to reach more than 300,000 patients at our direct care sites before the holidays.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe must get the word to all those who are eligible,\u201d said Fowler, a citizen of the Comanche Nation who is the highest ranking official at the IHS.\r\n

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\"Safeguard<\/a><\/div>\r\n
The Indian Health Service has released Safeguard our Future: Vaccine Toolkit for Parents and Families<\/a> to guide families through vaccinations for COVID-19 and other diseases.<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, American Indians and Alaska Natives have suffered disproportionately<\/a> despite the trust and treaty responsibility of the U.S. government to provide health care to tribes and their citizens. Infection rates, hospitalization rates and death rates have been the highest among all racial and ethnic groups, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAmerican Indians and Alaska Natives, however, have seen the highest vaccination rates in the nation<\/a> since doses became more widely available in the spring of 2021. Only recently, around November 2021, has the vaccination rate among Asians begun to surpass that of Native people, according to CDC data.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut Native people appear to have failed to keep up the pace when it comes to receiving a booster dose for the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the CDC data, American Indians and Alaska Natives are actually falling behind most other racial and ethnic groups<\/a> when it comes to receiving another shot.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs of Thursday, 58.9 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives had received a booster, the data shows. Only Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders had a lower rate, of 53.3 percent.\r\n

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