How COVID-19 is upending life on the Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation, located in parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, is one of the hardest hit places in the state from COVID-19 cases and is now leading the country in per-capita infection rates.

Most recent numbers show 2,344 persons per 100,000 on the Navajo Nation were infected by the new coronavirus. In second was New York with 1,806 cases per 100,000. Since early March the Navajo Nation has enacting some of the strictest policies in the state, including nightly and weekend-long curfews.

The response started when Navajo Nation President Jonathon Nez declared a state of emergency and days later closed the nation to visitors after three confirmed cases were reported. 

More than half of the Navajo Nation's cases involve residents in Arizona counties. 

In this week's episode of The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen are joined by breaking news reporter Chelsea Curtis to break down the Navajo Nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

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