Pandemic Exacerbates Deep-Seated Health Disparities, Which Makes Indigenous People Particularly Vulnerable
Their health services are chronically underfunded, which is a crisis in the best of times. During a pandemic its a devastating catastrophe.
From the Canadian Arctic to the Brazilian Amazon to the Australian coast, indigenous groups are racing to protect themselves from a familiar foe that has historically threatened their very existence: the rapid spread of foreign infectious disease. Fifteenth-century Europeans introduced smallpox and other diseases to the New World, decimating upward of 80 percent of the indigenous population. The 1918 flu pandemic wiped out entire villages. Now, as the novel coronavirus advances, indigenous groups are locking down and imploring outsiders to stay away. (Coletta and Traiano, 3/31)
The CARES Act, signed on Friday by President Donald Trump, lays out $10 billion of relief that will go to tribes and tribal organizations.Of that money $8 billion in emergency funds will be disturbed to help tribal governments, enterprises and businesses recover from the fallout of COVID-19 as many tribes across Montana have had to close non-essential businesses, and ask tribal members to stay home. (Sukut, 3/31)
