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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'A Devastating Blow': #Trumps #CoronaVirus Kills 81 Members of Native American Tribe
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Logan Densons grandmother Lena John Denson died from the coronavirus in June in Choctaw, Miss. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has been one of the states hardest-hit communities.Credit...Rory Doyle for The New York Times
More than 10 percent of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has had the coronavirus, and the tribe is bracing for a second wave and more devastation.
By Mark Walker Updated Oct. 9, 2020
CHOCTAW, Miss. For Jason Grisham, it began with a fever. Then came the chills, lingering headaches and a terrifying realization about what the symptoms might mean.
At the time, in early April, only a handful of residents in his Native American tribe in central Mississippi had tested positive for the coronavirus. But within days, Mr. Grisham, 40, would join a list that has only grown staggeringly longer.
Soon, his wife and oldest daughter would also be sick. All three would survive, but the cases would continue to tear through the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians unabated, eventually sickening more than 10 percent of the tribes 10,000 residents and killing at least 81 people.
We were prepared, we always wore our masks out and we always used hand sanitizer because the last thing we wanted was for the virus to be in our home, said Mr. Grishams wife, Kendall Grisham, 39.
That month, several residents died. In May, 30 were killed. In June, another 33. The toll climbed all summer.
It was a devastating blow to our people, said Cyrus Ben, the tribal chief, who also had the virus.
Through last month, Neshoba County, where most of the tribes residents live, had the highest death rate per capita in Mississippi from the coronavirus, according to data tracked by The New York Times. And despite making up 18 percent of the countys residents, tribal members have accounted for more than half of the countys virus cases and about 64 percent of the deaths.
We arent just losing family members or an aunt or uncle, we are losing parts of our culture, said Mary Harrison, interim health director for the Choctaw Health Center. Weve lost dressmakers, weve lost artists, elders who are very fluid in our language so when you think about an individual weve lost, these are important people in our community...................................
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'A Devastating Blow': #Trumps #CoronaVirus Kills 81 Members of Native American Tribe (Original Post)
riversedge
Oct 2020
OP
Wicked Blue
(5,834 posts)1. This is horrible
Negligent homicide?
RainCaster
(10,884 posts)3. The GOP doesn't care about native peoples
Look at how they have treated the tribes over the last 50+ years. What little help has been given came from democrats.