Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
September 9, 2020
Covid-19 community update
Recent data graphics, compilied by IHS and Warm Springs Community
Health professionals, showing the incidence of the virus on the reservation.
IHS updates Covid-19 data
The Indian Health Ser-
vice has updated its
coronavirus data, showing
results as of September 6.
According to the data,
across Indian Country as
tested by IHS: 42,911 tests
have returned positive for
Covid-19.
That represents an in-
crease of 0.14 percent from
the 42,853 cases previously
reported by the IHS.
Altogether, 691,091
coronavirus tests have been
administered through Sep-
tember 6, the data shows.
That marks an increase of
0.18 percent from the day
prior.
The low growth rates in
Covid-19 cases and tests are
indicative of a lull in data
seen during weekends. How-
ever, since July 21 there has
been a slowdown of
coronavirus activity reported
by the IHS.
Overall, 6.2 percent of
IHS coronavirus tests have
returned positive, according
to the data. But the rate is
far higher in the Phoenix
Area, where almost 15 per-
cent are positive.
Next is the Navajo Area,
which serves the largest res-
er vation in the United
States. But even with al-
most 13.7 percent of tests
returning positive, the rate
has fallen steadily over the
last couple of months, fol-
lowing a noticeable decline
as the region with the high-
est rate.
The Tucson Area, which
covers southern Arizona,
shows a high positive rate
of 8.9 percent. It has over-
taken the Nashville Area, as
well as the Portland Area, as
the region with the third
highest rate within the IHS
system.
The high rates in the
Phoenix, Navajo and Tuc-
son regions indicate a dispro-
portionate toll of the
coronavirus among IHS pa-
tients in the state of Arizona.
On the other end of the
spectrum, aggressive efforts
in the Alaska Area are turn-
ing up very few cases. Out
of 153,444 tests adminis-
tered in Alaska, only 0.84
percent have returned posi-
tive, the data shows.
The Alaska Area also far
outnumbers every other
area—including Navajo—
in terms of tests adminis-
tered. The Oklahoma City
Area remains in the second
spot.
The data, however, is in-
complete. While 100 percent
of facilities run directly by
the IHS are reporting data,
only 33 percent of tribally
managed facilities and 44
percent of urban Indian or-
ganizations are doing the
same, the agency has told
Indianz.Com.
The IHS service popula-
tion for 2019 was 2,562,290.
Based on that figure, almost
27 percent of American In-
dians and Alaska Natives
have been tested for the
coronavirus since the IHS
began reporting data in
March.
The IHS user population,
on the other hand, is a much
smaller number. As of 2019,
1,662,834 American Indians
and Alaska Natives have
lived within a service deliv-
ery area and have received
health care at an IHS or
tribal facility during the pre-
vious three years. Based on
the user population, almost
41.6 percent of Native
Americans have been tested.
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