Why the Navajo Nation has one of the highest coronavirus death rates in America

Historical social and structural inequality, mixed with unfortunately timed church service contributed to virus’s spread

The coronavirus death rate in the Navajo Nation is the fifth highest in the country, despite having a fraction of both the population and density of the other states.

Since Sunday, the Navajo Nation has suffered 73 deaths from the virus and has confirmed 2,373 cases of the virus, a rate of 46 deaths per every 100,000 people. Only New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts have higher death rates.

The outbreak in the Navajo Nation has been traced back to a large rally at the Chilchinbeto Church of the Nazarene on 7 March.

According to the Navajo Times, several individuals who attended the rally and their family members tested positive for the virus in the weeks following the meeting. Two others - including one person who attended the rally - died from respiratory symptoms before they could be tested for Covid-19.

Representatives from at least seven Western Navajo chapters and others from across the Navajo Nation were reportedly present at the rally.

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The New York Times reported that Navajo officials have been working to respond to the outbreak by isolating its potential spread through the use of curfews and checkpoints, but have complained that residents in towns and cities surrounding the reservation - including in the region's trade hub, Gallup, New Mexico - were ignoring social distancing guidelines, undermining their efforts.

Many members of the Navajo Nation live in Gallup, and many others make frequent trips into the city. As of Sunday, Gallup had the third highest infection rate of any metropolitan area in the US, with only New York City and the prison populations of Marion, Ohio reporting higher rates.

At the request of Gallup's mayor, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham invoked the state's Riot Control Act to shut the city down. Now, National Guard troops man checkpoints on the roads between the Navajo Nation and Gallup, turning cars away if they attempt to move between the regions.

Gallup's mayor, Louis Bonguidi, told the New York Times that while he recognised requesting his own city be locked down is unusual, he felt it was necessary to keep the public safe.

"However, the Covid-19 outbreak in the city of Gallup is a crisis of the highest order. Immediate action is necessary," Mr Bonaguidi said.

The mayor's drastic action was supported by the president of the Navajo Nation, Jonathan Nez.

"We have many members of the Navajo Nation that reside in Gallup and many that travel in the area, and their health and safety is always our top priority," Mr Nez said.

In addition to the Navajo Nation's geographic proximity to Gallup and the unfortunate church gathering that likely set the reservation's outbreak in motion, the Navajo - or the Diné, as they call themselves - have been left to battle the coronavirus with fewer resources than beleaguered state governors have.

High poverty, poor access to healthcare, limited access to clean water - due to US uranium mines poisoning the water supply - and overall neglect from the US government towards Native American communities existed well before Covid-19 spread through the region, and has only made it more difficult for tribal authorities to respond to the pandemic.

In 2009, the US National Institutes of Health reported that Native Americans and Alaska Natives died at four times the rates of all other racial and ethnic groups from the H1N1 flu.

What little help has been offered to Native American communities has been slow to reach leaders due to "heavy reporting requirements" in the grant application process.

At the same time that the leaders are attempting to secure funding for their people, they are also attempting to fight losing potentially billions of dollars in aid money to for-profit companies operated by Alaska Natives who qualified and applied for the funds. The Navajo recently joined 10 other tribes in a lawsuit attempting to block the companies from receiving the money.