As the country deals with the influx of COVID-19 patients, hospitals have had to find ways to house the patients to receive proper medical care by setting up temporary field hospitals. As of April 28, McKinley County is the hardest hit county in New Mexico with 820 positive tests.

Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services and Gallup Indian Medical Center have cooperated with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to transform the gymnasium at Miyamura High School into just such a center.

The field hospital is described as a safe and comfortable setting where COVID-19 patients can be isolated and monitored during the pandemic, according to the Gallup Alternate Care Facility...

Some members of the Navajo Nation Council want New Mexico officials to close down package liquor stores in towns bordering the Navajo Reservation.

On April 17, an emergency resolution was filed with the Speaker’s Office asking the council to urge the Governor of New Mexico to use her authority to close liquor stores.

The proposed resolution points out that the tribe has imposed a curfew on travel from 8 pm to 5 am as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on the reservation.

“Navajo Nation residents are not abiding by the curfew in order to travel to stores selling alcoholic beverages,” the resolution stated.

The resolution also emphasizes that an April 6 notice by the...

Pinto beans and sugar are not enough

Friends and colleagues from across the country have contacted me to express their sorrow, pity and concern for the people of the Navajo Nation. They have seen the stories on national media outlets reporting the alarming incidence of COVID-19 cases on and around the Navajo Reservation, third highest in the nation per capita.

I’m pleased to see a growing awareness of the dire straits and economic circumstances of the Navajo people, as the COVID crisis lays bare the many ways in which an entire sovereign nation - residing within the broader U.S. system - has endured a century-and-a-half of neglect and has been relegated to the “bottom of the...

Gallup’s third lockdown will include several changes. One will be a need for face masks.

City Manager Maryann Ustick told the Gallup Sun that beginning May 7all Gallup residents will be required to wear a cloth face covering when they are inside a business, non-profit or government building. That new requirement was just a suggestion by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in her most recent public health order. Now it is mandatory in Gallup.

The mask for customers was requested by Mayor Louis Bonaguidi and announced by the governor May 7. The ordinance will be coming up on the city council agenda May 12.

The curfew will include a lock down of roads for non-residents until May 8 at 8...