The coronavirus pandemic hit Native Americans especially hard. But as the spotlight turned to larger communities like the Navajo Nation, the much smaller White Mountain Apache Tribe, in eastern Arizona, quietly battled to save its people. Photos and text by Alberto Mariani/Cronkite News | May 4, 2021 Justin Tafoya, left, a registered nurse and public information officer, talks with Lafe Altaha before a nurse checks his vitals at his home in Whiteriver, Arizona. WHITERIVER – Last year, the community of 15,000 in eastern Arizona was considered a hotspot. By Sept. 1, five months after its first recorded COVID case, the tribe had 2,400 cases and had lost 39 people. Over the next six months, there were 1,500 new cases and just 10 additional deaths.