COVID-19 Daily News Digest – December 19, 2020
COVID-19 Vaccines Reach Indigenous Communities
The first doses of the coronavirus vaccine are arriving at Native American communities that have been disproportionately sickened and felled by the pandemic.
Vaccinations began Tuesday for health workers at clinics across the Navajo and Hopi nations in parts of Arizona and New Mexico, where 3,900 doses are being delivered to clinics.
At Acoma Pueblo near Albuquerque, vaccines are being distributed to tribal elders and workers on the front lines of food distribution and mental health visits to tribal members who live in self-imposed isolation.
First Nations people with COVID-19 urged to quarantine off reserve in isolation facilities
She urged people to leave their reserves if they need to self-isolate and can’t do so properly in their community.
“If we do not see more people isolating out of their homes in these safer facilities, we will not see our case numbers go down. We will continue to see high number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/first-nations-urged-to-leave-reserve-to-isolate-1.5847569
Efforts underway to see Indigenous ceremonies deemed essential service in Sask.
Andre Bear is trying to change that, for people today and for future generations.
The idea to get ceremony recognized as an essential service started brewing in the spring, when the RCMP were called to attend a sun dance ceremony that was allegedly violating public health orders around gathering.
Bear said the sun dance is one of the most spiritually integral gatherings for many of the Indigenous cultures in Saskatchewan and the communities that host them are bound to do so through their own legal systems.
Living and Working Conditions Explain Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Deaths
Four recent studies are exploring why BIPOC individuals are dying from COVID-19 at the highest rates. And all four independently concluded that the racial disparity most likely has a root cause: social inequities of housing, employment, transportation, and access to health care. The studies were published in the journals JAMA Network Open, PLOS Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and The New England Journal of Medicine, respectively.
COVID-19 cases among First Nations in Northern Health more than double rest of population
New data released by the First Nations Health Authority shows nearly 36 percent of people with confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Northern health region are First Nations people.
But they only make up 17 percent of the total population.
That places their infection rate at more than twice the average.
First Nations leaders have said that the indigenous population has been suffering far more from COVID-19 than the general population.
Feds detail $100 million pledged to fight food insecurity during COVID-19 pandemic
At a virtual news conference today, Bibeau says Food Banks Canada and Breakfast Club of Canada will each receive $18.5 million, and Community Food Centres Canada, Second Harvest and Salvation Army will also receive just under $9 million each.
Indigenous Services Canada will get $30 million to boost its community support fund to help ensure access to adequate food in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
Erin woman organizing thousands of PPE donations to remote Indigenous communities
“Everybody everywhere deserves that same protection against COVID,” she said.
Sheldon says in the North, disposable masks cost up to $10 each.
“It is very concerning that when families are spending from $500 to $800 dollars a week just for food, I had wanted to offset some of that, alleviate some of costs for families,” Sheldon explained.
Indigenous leaders struggle to support mental health as community access remains restricted
Since March, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says there has been an increase in young people in Fort Chipewyan that have died from alcohol abuse. To compare, no one in the community has died from COVID-19.
“We knew these things prior to the pandemic that were plaguing us,” said Adam. “We noticed there are a lot of social problems stemming from alcohol and the opioid crisis and things like that.”
Province erred when it publicized on-reserve outbreaks: health ministry
With those declarations can come stigma and discrimination directed toward members of affected First Nations, which is why he respects when leaders don’t want to publicize outbreaks, Khan said.
“There is a place that is there for the leadership to decide. Whether it is HIV, whether it’s TB (tuberculosis) or COVID-19, if you go to a hospital and say ‘I’m from this community, a First Nation,’ they might face a great deal of racism and discrimination.”
Indigenous healthcare workers honoured in FNHMA virtual celebration and new InfoPoint series starts Jan. 14, 2021
Marion Crowe – who has been CEO of FNHMA since the organization opened its doors over ten years ago – provided top-rate emceeing as the virtual celebration’s host of the inspiring 3-hour celebration on November 4, 2020. Elder Pat Green kicked off the event with an opening prayer and comment, and the festivities continued with guest speakers including AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Former Prime Ministers, Federal Ministers, and professional hockey player Carey Price. Each of whom shared their appreciation of health workers who have helped steer Indigenous communities through not only the COVID-19 crisis but also many of the problems that have been exacerbated by the global pandemic.
Northern Health dealing with a surge of COVID-19 cases
Northern Health, the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Indigenous communities and the District of Fort St. James, are closely monitoring and responding to a surge of COVID-19 cases in Fort St. James and nearby communities.
Between November 18th and December 17th, there have been 108 cases of COVID-19 in the central and northern portions of the Nechako Health Area.
This includes 33 cases confirmed between December 9th and 15th, there are still 65 active cases
‘It’s getting scarier’: 108 cases of COVID-19 and climbing in northern B.C.’s Nechako region
“It’s getting scarier,” said Nak’azdli Whut’en elected Chief Aileen Prince in a video update. “We had started to see a definite bend in the curve, and flattening. We are now going back up again.”
Prince said her members are trying to deliver food to people in isolation and while that briefly dipped below twenty people “now it’s back up over forty again.” Northern Health says there are currently 65 active cases among residents of the region.
B.C. First Nations hit a roadblock as they try to get information about COVID-19 cases near their communities
B.C’s privacy commissioner has rejected a bid to release the location of COVID-19 cases near First Nations communities. The Nuu-chah-nulth were one of three First Nations fighting for that information. Tribal Council President Dr. Judith Sayers discusses what the decision means for her community.
Feds detail $100 million pledged to fight food insecurity during COVID-19 pandemic
Ottawa originally announced the $100 million in October for the emergency food security fund, which had already received $100 million in the spring.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said food banks, local food organizations and Indigenous groups will be able to purchase and safely distribute food with the money, helping vulnerable people and communities.