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Re: Coronavirus
Yes, I did read about that recently. I have also heard many volunteers from CA are here now. This is another story about the virus on the smaller reservations called Pueblos here in New Mexico. Many of these Pueblos have casinos that were closed down I'm thinking in March. As the number of cases in New Mexico is leveling off, that is only off the Navajo reservation. There will be a press conference later today with our governor to see if we will start opening the state today or not and I have a feeling with this going on, it's not going to happen.
Small Tribes Seal Borders, Push Testing to Keep Out Virus
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/202...ed-tribes.html
Originally posted by crazy
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Small Tribes Seal Borders, Push Testing to Keep Out Virus
PICURIS PUEBLO, N.M. — On a dusty plaza in a Native American village that dates back nearly a millennium, a steady trickle of vehicles inched through a pop-up coronavirus testing site.
From the bed of a pickup truck and backseats of cars, wide-eyed children stared from behind hand-sewn masks and then sobbed as testing crews in hospital gowns swabbed their noses. The workers packed the samples into a plastic travel cooler for a return trip past the tribe's guarded roadblock to a state lab.
The mandatory testing — under the threat of fines by the tribal council in Picuris Pueblo — was being performed by the state Health Department and U.S. Indian Health Service as they strive to identify potential infection hot spots and contain the virus that's ravaged other Native American communities. The order covered everyone from visiting construction workers and homebound seniors to the clerks at the pueblo’s sole general store, where candy, jerky, liquor and cigarettes are now sold only through a slot in the front door.
From the bed of a pickup truck and backseats of cars, wide-eyed children stared from behind hand-sewn masks and then sobbed as testing crews in hospital gowns swabbed their noses. The workers packed the samples into a plastic travel cooler for a return trip past the tribe's guarded roadblock to a state lab.
The mandatory testing — under the threat of fines by the tribal council in Picuris Pueblo — was being performed by the state Health Department and U.S. Indian Health Service as they strive to identify potential infection hot spots and contain the virus that's ravaged other Native American communities. The order covered everyone from visiting construction workers and homebound seniors to the clerks at the pueblo’s sole general store, where candy, jerky, liquor and cigarettes are now sold only through a slot in the front door.
“If the virus does reach us, that could be the end of Picuris,” said Wayne Yazza, the pueblo’s lieutenant governor.
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