The statistics show that Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
A Wednesday dialogue with tribal leaders from the Flathead and Fort Peck Indian reservations emphasized their response â enacting stay-at-home orders, closing lands, taking school online, reinventing youth and health services, distributing federal CARES Act money, and planning their own vaccination rollouts.
âIndigenous leaders have stayed ahead of the curve,â said Dr. Cora Neumann, the moderator and a public health expert who sits on the stateâs vaccine rollout task force.
While the headlines often focus on case numbers, âthe loss in these communities has not been for lack of leadership,â she said.