Diné Navajo Resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

Wilfred F Denetclaw; Zara K Otto; Samantha Christie; Estrella Allen; Maria Cruz; Kassandra A Potter; Kala M Mehta

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272089

Diné Navajo Resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 4;17(8):e0272089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272089. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Wilfred F Denetclaw¹, Zara K Otto¹, Samantha Christie¹, Estrella Allen¹, Maria Cruz², Kassandra A Potter¹, Kala M Mehta³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
² Department of Public Health, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.

Abstract

Objective: To date, there are no studies of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the Navajo Nation, US. The primary objective of this manuscript is to understand whether counties with a higher proportion of Navajo (Diné) population also had higher cases and deaths of COVID-19 and whether these dropped with vaccination.

Method: We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of county level data from March 16, 2020-May 11, 2021. Data were obtained from public repositories and the US Census for the Navajo Nation, including northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. The primary outcome measure is the number of individuals with confirmed cases or deaths of COVID-19. A secondary outcome was COVID-19 vaccinations.

Results: The 11 counties in Navajo Nation have a wide variation in the percent Navajo population, the resources available (ICU beds and occupancy), and COVID-19 outcomes. Overall, there was a substantial increase in the number of cases from March 16 -July 16, 2020 (the height of the pandemic) with a doubling time of 10.12 days on Navajo Nation. The percent Navajo population was a strong predictor of COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population. COVID-19 vaccinations were inversely associated with COVID-19 cases and deaths in these counties.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic on the Navajo Nation is a story of resilience. Navajo Nation was one of the hardest hit areas of the United States, with peak cases and deaths due to COVID-19. With an aggressive vaccination effort, these cases and deaths were strikingly curtailed, showing the resilience of the Navajo (Diné) people.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Indians, North American*
New Mexico / epidemiology
Pandemics
United States

Grants and funding

Dr. Kala M. Mehta is funded by the National Institute for General Medical Disciplines U54 GM118986 San Francisco Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (SFBUILD II) grant. Maria Cruz, Samantha Christie and Estrella Allen were SFBUILD scholars funded by the SFBUILD I grant- National Institutes of Health, GM118984, 11895, and 11896. Dr. W. Denetclaw is supported by the Center for Cellular Construction, which is a Science and Technology Center funded by the National Science Foundation (DBI-1548297). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.