Inside the Navajo Nation as it endures the coronavirus outbreak
By Felicia Fonseca, Carolyn Kaster and Tim Sullivan
If the Navajo Nation were its own state, it would have the second highest per-capita rate of coronavirus cases in the United States, trailing only New York. The virus has ravaged close-knit families for whom isolating sick members isn’t always possible or preferred.
Arizona-based reporter Felicia Fonseca has covered Native Americans for The Associated Press for more than a decade and is one of the preeminent reporters covering Native issues for any news organization. Her knowledge of the reservation, gave the AP – and the world – a window into one of the hardest-hit virus hot spots that few people have seen.
Angelina Dinehdeal wipes tears from her eyes as she sits with her 8-year-old daughter Annabelle at the family’s compound on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020. Dinehdeal is trying to hold the family together after the lost four members to COVID-19. “It just seems like every time I take someone in (to the hospital) they never come out,” she said. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Annabelle Dinehdeal, 8, watches as her father, Eugene Dinehdeal, plays ball with their dog Wally at the family compound on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020. The family has been devastated by COVID-19. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
During an interview at the family’s compound on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020, Angelina Dinehdeal wipes tears from her eyes as she talks about how four family members died of COVID-19. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
Eugene Dinehdeal holds photos of family members, including Eva Dinehdeal at top, at the Dinehdeal family compound on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020. Eva Dinehdeal died of COVID-19 on April 11, one of four family members to die during the pandemic. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A sign on the Navajo reservation announces that the area is closed to visitors, at the entrance to Monument Valley in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah, April 19, 2020. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
Dr. Diana Hu, left, and a colleague wear personal protective equipment (PPE) as they work in the COVID-19 screening and testing tent at Tuba City Regional Health Care on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Red, a sheep-herding dog, rests in the morning sun before going out with the flock of Navajo rancher Leslie Dele on the Navajo reservation outside Tuba City, Ariz., April 22, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
On the Navajo reservation outside Tuba City, Ariz., Navajo rancher and shepherd Leslie Dele guides his sheep into their corral at the end of the day on the family ranch, April 22, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Navajo rancher and sheepherder Leslie Dele holds a lamb in the sheep corral of his ranch on the Navajo reservation outside Tuba City, Ariz., April 22, 2020. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
The town’s water tower and a basketball backboard are seen at sunrise on the Navajo reservation in Chilchinbeto, Ariz., April 19, 2020. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
Chris Topher Chee wears rubber gloves to pump water to haul home on the Navajo reservation in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah, April 27, 2020. One-third of the homes across the vast, dry reservation don’t have running water, forcing families to haul it in. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
Raynelle Hoskie attaches a hose to a water pump to fill tanks in her truck outside a tribal office on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 20, 2020. Hoskie was hauling water back to her home where she lives with her extended family. “Stop making us look like we’re weak,” she said. “We’re a strong nation. Our language is strong, we’re tough. We’ve always used our traditional herbs, our traditional ceremonies. They’re very powerful.” – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
Navajo medicine man Travis Teller gathers sage to perform an herbal ceremony on the Navajo reservation in Tsaile, Ariz., April 29, 2020. He will make a tea to drink, and use smoke and steam to purify the air to protect his people and those in his care from COVID-19. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
A rainbow appears in the distance on the Navajo reservation in Chilchinbeto, Ariz., April 21, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
A sign is posted on the door of Mabel Charley’s home-bound uncle to keep visitors out of the hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling, on the Navajo reservation in Chilchinbeto, Ariz., April 21, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Mabel Charley, left, applies hand sanitizer as she arrives to care for her home-bound uncle in his hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling, on the Navajo reservation in Chilchinbeto, Ariz., April 21, 2020. – AP PHOTO / CAROLYN KASTER
A sign for Navajo Drive stands against a cloud-darkened Sentinel Mesa in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah, on the Navajo Reservation, April 30, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Fonseca and Washington, D.C.-based photographer Carolyn Kaster reported from the midst of the crisis. The pair drew on Fonseca’s experience and Kaster’s earnest desire to give their subjects a voice to gain extraordinary access, telling the story not as outsiders but from within. Donning full protective gear and a healthy measure of courage, they interviewed and photographed families, doctors and volunteers, with national writer Tim Sullivan adding reporting and masterful writing assistance from afar.
The story and photos capture the incredible,vast beauty of the land and the intimate grief of the people. The vast reservation is home to some 175,000 people,many of whom are spread out in isolated posts and don’t have running water. They rely on an underfunded federal health care system that has struggled under the crush of COVID-19 cases.
The extended Dinedahl family,living in a cluster of homes on the far western side of the reservation,has lost four members to the virus. Fonseca reached the family in advance and secured exclusive access,then she and Kaster spent hours with the survivors,who had taken loved one after loved one to the hospital, never to see them come out.
Kayenta Health Center emergency room director Dr. Anthony Griffy, foreground right, works with Team Rubicon volunteers as they practice with a new intubation shield that just arrived to help protect medical workers at the Kayenta Health Center emergency room Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. Team Rubicon volunteers were helping with medical and emergency room operations as cases of COVID-19 surged on the reservation. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Agathla Peak walks through the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 18, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Christra McDermont, center, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, talks with other Team Rubicon volunteers, Dr. Stan Chartoff, left, with the U.S. Air Force Reserve from Hartford, Conn., and EMT Tracy Thomas from Omaha, Neb., in a patient waiting area at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Team Rubicon volunteer Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, wipes his face shield with a sanitary wipe after seeing a patient in the emergency room of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 23, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Team Rubicon volunteer Christra McDermont, right, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, counts face masks as fellow volunteers Cindy Robison, left, a nurse and U.S. Air Force veteran from Colorado Springs, Colo., and Dennis Grooms, an EMT from St. Louis, work with the only ventilator in the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Christra McDermont, left, a U.S. Navy veteran from Los Angeles, serving as the operation section chief, works with staff in the emergency operation center of the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., April 19, 2020. – AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
Kaster also photographed a group of veterans and EMTs who are volunteering on the Navajo Nation, showing the commitment with the story of a man who spent hours hand-pumping air for a patient with no ventilator. Her photo package ran with the story and gave a different look at the crisis, from those trying to help.
The package ran on front pages in Arizona and New Mexico,and was among the most downloaded and viewed for AP for several days after it ran.
For a revealing look at a Native community in the midst of the health crisis,Fonseca, Kaster and Sullivan share this week’s Best of the States honors.
