81 New COVID-19 Cases, No New Deaths Reported For Navajo Nation
May 3, 2020, 2:58 PM
COVID-19
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Department of Health reported 81 new COVID-19 cases for the Navajo Nation, and no new deaths over the weekend.
As of numbers released Saturday, 2,292 people have tested positive, while 73 people have died on the reservation.
A total of 14,351 tests have been administered.
The Navajo Nation entered another 57-hour weekend curfew, requiring all residents to remain home in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We don’t want any more more of our people getting the virus and we don’t want any more grieving families,” said Vice President Myron Lizer. “Please think of others, think of the families who have lost their sons, daughters, parents, and grandparents to COVID-19.”
Officers were set up at different road checkpoints, issuing citations to violators.
“We know our men and women in uniform are giving everything they have and we know some may be getting tired, but we want them to know that they are always in our prayers and we are cheering them on. We worked with the Division of Human Resources to ensure they receive special duty pay for working hard to protect our communities during this pandemic,” said Lizer.
The order began at noon Friday and will remain in effect until noon Monday.
The curfew went into effect as another agreement was reached between Navajo leaders and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Chinle Community Center has now been authorized “to be used as an Alternative Care Site to isolate positive COVID-19 patients to help prevent the further spread of the virus on the Navajo Nation,” according to a statement by the Navajo Nation.
“We’re continuing to be proactive and to work with federal partners to establish these Alternative Care Sites to house positive cases,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez. “As we’ve said before, we hope we don’t have to use these facilities to their full capacity because we want to see the number of cases decrease. We pray to see our people walking out of these Alternative Care Sites having recovered and able to return to their families in good health.”
The Navajo Reservation spans the Four Corners area that includes part of southeastern Utah. Here’s a county by county breakdown of reported coronavirus cases on the reservation:
- San Juan County, UT: 43
- McKinley County, NM: 641
- Apache County, AZ: 560
- Navajo County, AZ: 525
- Coconino County, AZ: 292
- San Juan County, NM: 247
- Socorro County, NM: 23
- Cibola County, NM: 21
- Sandoval County, NM: 21
