Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined a bipartisan group of senators urging Vice President Mike Pence to ensure resources to tribes and urban Native communities in response to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.
According to the press release, the 25 senators wrote the letter to Pence after the congressional passage of a coronavirus emergency supplemental appropriations bill that provides $40 million to tribes and urban Indian health organizations. In the letter, the senators wrote, “As you undertake your work leading the Administration’s 2019 novel coronavirus response, we urge you to meaningfully engage with Native communities and Tribal leaders.”
They asked that the current administration provide tribal leaders and tribal health departments equal access to COVID-19 information and uphold trust and treaty obligations to provide comprehensive quality healthcare to American Indians and Alaska Natives, according to the press release.
The United States confirmed COVID-19 cases in states where tribes and urban Native communities reside, including a case at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon, which is owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, according to the press release.
In the letter, Merkley and Wyden said, “It is incumbent on the Administration to keep Indian Tribes, Tribal health departments, and urban Indian health programs apprised of any relevant developments in real time.”
Lofanitani Marie Aisea-Ball, a junior at the University of Oregon who identifies as Modoc, Klamath, Black and Tongan, said she was concerned about Native communities having access to resources for COVID-19.
“Where I live, it’s pretty isolated, and where we get groceries is maybe like 30 minutes away and that is also where the big hospital is,” Aisea-Ball said. “So if someone needed help, you would have to access a car. Some people don’t have that. So access is definitely an issue.”
Aisea-Ball expressed concern for her family members who don’t have the same resources that she has at UO. “I know people in my family have medical issues that need people to be more sanitary and wash their hands,” she said. “It’s stressful not being in that community and being here and not having to deal with what my family is dealing with down there. There are sanitary stations here [on campus], but not where I live.”
According to the press release, tribes are concerned that the federal government’s COVID-19 response efforts will not reach them due to “past issues accessing federal resources for the Zika, Ebola, H1N1, and SARS outbreaks.”
Aisea-Ball said it was unexpected to hear that the group of U.S. senators were urging the federal government to provide resources to Native communities.
“I didn’t really think about Native communities being supported because I don’t expect it, which sucks,” she said. “But it makes me happy that someone is thinking about Native communities who might not identify as Native. They are at least doing things systematically that matter.”
Damian White Lightning, a junior at UO who identifies as Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said it was nice to see the senators urge Pence to support Native communities in response to COVID-19.
“The message hits different when it comes from someone who has the privilege to have their voice actually heard,” White Lightning, who is also the resident assistant for the Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community, said. “Whether or not people actually take it into consideration and do something about it is a different thing. But having that opportunity to have someone else say something means a lot more.”
