Tribes began taking steps early on to protect their members, even before the federal and state governments began requiring such measures. Lummi Nation leaders, in the Pacific Northwest, for instance, began preparing when the virus first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019, according to an article in The Guardian , and declared a state of emergency on March 3—10 days before President Trump did.
The tribe has been “beefing up” emergency plans, reorganizing services, and gathering medical supplies. It also approved $1 million for emergency response, including repurposing a community fitness center into a field hospital. “We quickly recognized the need to make sacrifices for the greater good, in order to protect our people and the wider community,” Dr. Dakotah Lane, medical director of the tribal health service, said in the Guardian interview.
On March 17, the Navajo Nation shut down its 4 casinos after an Arizona tribe member was diagnosed with the virus. President Jonathan Nez says the tribe stands to lose $3 million to $5 million in revenue. But “[t]he health and well-being of our Navajo people is of utmost importance and not just profit,” Nez said in a Navajo Times interview.
In the meantime, bending to pressure from Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) and “a handful” of other lawmakers, according to an article in The Guardian , Congress designated $40 million for tribal health and Urban Indian Health organizations as part of the emergency federal relief legislation.
While the states received the emergency funds immediately, the CDC disburses the money to tribes, who have yet to receive any. Haaland, the first Native American woman elected to Congress, says the tribes needed the money “yesterday.”