Dept. Of Justice Sends Emergency Money To Navajo Nation To Fight Pandemic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs announced Thursday that it has awarded $486,348 to the Navajo Nation as it fights to fend off one of the worst COVID-19 disasters in the United States.

The Navajo Reservation is an area larger than West Virginia and lies, partially, in southeastern Utah. The reservation currently has one of the highest per capita rates of COVID-19 in the country.

“The people of the Navajo Nation have suffered the devastating effects of COVID-19 at rates unmatched by any other community in America, yet through it all they have maintained a faith and resolve that the rest of us could only hope to emulate,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan. “We stand with their leaders, with their brave public safety and public health professionals, and with every Navajo citizen as they rise to meet, and overcome, this crisis.”

More than 140 people have died from the coronavirus as Navajo leaders have struggled to control the spread with extreme measures like complete lockdowns.

Federal and state governments have sent doctors, researchers and supplies to the area.

Friday the Utah Farm Bureau is sending food to the reservation that was collected under its Farmers Feeding Utah project .

The Utah Department of Health has also sent a mobile testing unit and Doctors Without Borders has a team in the area to advise tribal health officials.

The new federal money is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed by President Trump in March.

According to a Department of Justice news release, the emergency program makes $850 million available to support tribal, local and state efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing jurisdictions to hire personnel, pay overtime, purchase protective equipment and distribute resources to hard-hit areas.