The Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health’s efforts countering COVID-19 in the Navajo Nation has been featured in a second investigative story for NBC’s TODAY program. TODAY, America’s leading morning news show airing to approximately 4 million people daily, highlighted the center’s efforts distributing wellness boxes, building handwashing stations, and providing public health insights.
“We have a situation here where we have inadequate access to health care, inadequate access to water, inadequate access to basic public health infrastructure that’s placed people at higher risk for infectious diseases,” said Dr. Laura Hammitt, Director of Infectious Disease Programs at the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, to investigative reporter Cynthia McFadden. A segment also aired on NBC’s Nightly News.
Full story—Hit us at our core: Vulnerable Navajo Nation fears a second COVID-19 wave
Watch the segment from TODAY on NBC.
Airing earlier in April, an investigative feature highlighted the heavy toll the virus was already having on the Navajo Nation.
Many people of the Navajo Nation, a 17 million-acre expanse stretching across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, have serious underlying health conditions, and COVID-19 is only making things worse. It’s hard to wash your hands without running water. NBC senior investigative correspondent Cynthia McFadden reports on TODAY as the NBC series On the Front Lines continues.