How a Navajo Nation Health Worker is Treating America’s Worst Covid-19 Outbreak
Roxanna Yazzie works long hours to keep her community safe from Covid-19
Even in winter, when temperatures drop to below freezing and the dirt roads are coated in snow or ice, Roxanna Yazzie slings her clinic badge over her down jacket, pulls up the hood of her green jacket, and makes for work.
Yazzie, 31, is one of eight women helping run the health clinic in Navajo Mountain, a chapter of the Navajo Nation that straddles the border of Arizona and Utah. However centrally located Navajo Mountain appears on a map, it takes about two hours to drive to the nearest emergency room. In mid-March, the Navajo Nation was particularly hard hit by Covid-19, with cases peaking a month later. As of May, the nation had the highest Covid-19 infection rate out of any of the U.S. states. Approximately 500 people live in Navajo Mountain, Yazzie says, and the community lost a few elders to Covid-19 earlier on during the outbreak. Case numbers have come down since the spring, largely owing to masks, curfews, and weekend lockdowns. Even as cases spike across most of the United States, few…
