How Indigenous Communities in Canada Organized an Exemplary Public Health Response to COVID – Scientific American
An emphasis on self-determination contributed to dramatically lower case numbers than among non-Indigenous groups
The unequal impact of COVID-19 on the health of certain groups, including Black, Latinx and Native Americans, became clear from the outset of the pandemic. The Navajo Nation, Diné Bikéyah, made headlines throughout May 2020 when its per capita COVID-19 infection rate surpassed that of every U.S. state.
But although COVID-19’s rates in Canada have been high in the Black community, and in neighborhoods where there are large populations of people of color, its prevalence to date among Indigenous people in Canada has been less than one quarter that of non-Indigenous Canadians, with a third of the fatalities and a 30 percent higher recovery rate.
