'The pandemic ravaging some Native American communities has echoes that go back centuries,' Van Jones writes for CNNOpinion. 'This time, however, rapid action at both the local and national levels can avert a catastrophe.'
CNN host Van Jones is the CEO of the REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice organization. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
The pandemic ravaging some Native American communities has echoes that go back centuries -- to the measles and smallpox epidemics that first decimated the original Americans. This time, however, rapid action can avert a catastrophe. The stakes are high. And the human stories are already heartbreaking. For example, Andrea Circle Bear never met her daughter. The day before she delivered her baby via cesarean section on April 1, doctors placed Circle Bear on a ventilator. Less than four weeks later, the young mother succumbed to Covid-19 and passed away. Black America must wake up to this viral threatCircle Bear was only 30 years old. She had been sentenced in January for a nonviolent, drug-related offense.
W. Kamau Bell: People can't trust the federal government on Covid-19 01:59This year, Native leaders tried to sound the alarm, but too few of us listened. Navajo Nation, surrounded by Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, is one of the epicenters of the virus in the United States, according to Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force. It has the highest infection rate after New York and New Jersey. As of now, according to tribal officials, there are more than 2,000 reported cases.
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