The Navajo Nation

Office of the President and Vice President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2020

6,240 recoveries, 50 new cases, and five more deaths related to COVID-19 reported as 57-hour weekend curfew takes effect

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – On Friday, the Navajo Department of Health, in coordination with the Navajo Epidemiology Center and the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, reported 50 new COVID-19 positive cases for the Navajo Nation and five more deaths. The total number of deaths has reached 412 as of Friday.

Reports indicate that approximately 6,240 individuals have recovered from COVID-19. 71,230 people have been tested for COVID-19. The total number of COVID-19 positive cases for the Navajo Nation is 8,536.

Navajo Nation COVID-19 positive cases by Service Unit:

• Chinle Service Unit: 2,138
• Crownpoint Service Unit: 726
• Ft. Defiance Service Unit: 577
• Gallup Service Unit: 1,386
• Kayenta Service Unit: 1,210
• Shiprock Service Unit: 1,345
• Tuba City Service Unit: 780
• Winslow Service Unit: 371

* Three residences with COVID-19 positive cases are not specific enough to place them accurately in a Service Unit.

The Navajo Nation’s 57-hour weekend lockdown is now in effect until Monday, July 20 at 5:00 a.m. to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and to keep the Navajo people safe. The Navajo Police Department and the New Mexico National Guard will once again setup checkpoints in various communities to help enforce the weekend lockdown.

“The safest place to be is at home here on the Navajo Nation. The more people travel off the Nation and into other cities, the greater the chance of them contracting COVID-19 and bringing it home to their family members. We don’t want to have another spike in new cases. Our health care system will be overwhelmed and our health care workers will be spread even more thin than they are now. We are listening to the advice of our health care experts and frontline warriors. Please think of your elders, your children, and all of our frontline warriors and their families,” said President Nez.

In regards to reports of people consuming alcohol-based hand sanitizer, health care experts are sending a strong warning that doing so can easily lead to alcohol poisoning and in some cases death. Hand sanitizer should be stored out of reach of children and should be used with adult supervision. Do not use hand sanitizers that contain methanol. Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system, or death.

The Nez-Lizer Administration is working with businesses to setup food donation drop-off sites at grocery stores to allow Navajo Nation residents to contribute non-perishable food items, which will be made available to Navajo people and others living in the Phoenix area as a way to give back to our relatives and friends of the Navajo Nation who graciously donated essential items to the Navajo Nation.

“We want to provide an opportunity for residents of the Navajo Nation to give back to our relatives in the Phoenix area. Early on in this pandemic, we received many donations from the Phoenix area and now we want to do the same in a time when the Phoenix communities are seeing large spikes in new cases of COVID-19. To all of our Navajo people, please be safe this weekend and enjoy the time with your loved ones at home,” said Vice President Lizer.

For more information, including helpful prevention tips, and resources to help stop the spread of COVID-19, visit the Navajo Department of Health’s COVID-19 website at http://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19. For COVID-19 related questions and information, call (928) 871-7014.

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