![]() ![]() The priest noted there’s a lack of electricity on the reservation and people heat with wood or coal. And worryingly, there’s a lack of hospitals equipped to handle COVID-19.Ī lot of the homes are in “terrible condition” because people are poor, Jamison added, with 35 percent have no running water. Other than the major highways, the roads are mostly dirt and gravel, and grocery stores are often not at a reasonable distance. The priest said the nearly nonexistent infrastructure on the reservation is the main problem facing the community. The parents are in their fifties and sixties.” “The grandparents are in their seventies and eighties. Then everybody comes home on the weekends crammed together.” A few people have jobs in Gallup and come home, kids go to school. “Then their trailer or Hogan has twenty people inside of it. “My community here is crippled because of different things that are affecting them,” Jamison said. The problems existed before the pandemic and have only been exacerbated since, he said. These are all factors Jamison said are at play on the Navajo Reservation, most of which is located in the Diocese of Gallup. Additionally, people often live in single room multigenerational homes that doesn’t allow for social distancing. Many reservations also lack infrastructure and resources. They’re historically at a higher risk for diabetes and obesity. There are a number of factors that make Native Americans more susceptible to COVID-19. However, Native Americans make up only 0.7 percent of the U.S. Those are the lowest numbers of any race/ethnicity. The latest CDC data shows Native Americans account for just under one percent (1,275) of the nearly 150,000 deaths for which race/ethnicity data was available, and just over one percent (53,114) of the nearly 4,750,000 cases for which race/ethnicity data was available. Center for Disease Control data from mid-August shows Native Americans are 2.8 times more likely to contract the virus, 5.3 times more likely to be hospitalized from it, and 1.4 times more likely to die from it compared to the white population. Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic since it began in March. We need the Eucharist,’” Jamison told Crux. It’s really tough emotionally, spiritually and sacramentally. ![]() “They come every single day (for the private Mass). The priest said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the only in-person worship on the reservation – over 27,000 square miles spread over New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah - other than a drive through communion one afternoon a week. Mary Mission church in New Mexico, located on the Navajo Reservation. Everyday Father Dale Jamison holds a private Mass for three to five parishioners at the St. ![]()
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