The Navajo Nation is seeing a record number of COVID-19 cases reported in a single day, with more than 400 new cases documented on Thursday and over 500 on Friday.
The 405 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday marked the single highest daily case count since the pandemic began. The number crept even higher on Friday, with 525 reported.
405 new cases, 40,301 recoveries, and no deaths related to COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/Rfcr3z6egM
— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) January 14, 2022
However, despite the case counts in the triple digits for nearly a week, President Jonathan Nez said there was a much lower case count when it comes to deaths.
Over the past week, there were a total of six deaths on Navajo Nation.
Nez acknowledges that every death is a person, and a family member, but he attributes the low death count to their high vaccination rates.
“I hope that people can see that a highly vaccinated region can save lives and push back on COVID-19,” said Nez.
As of Friday, 87% of those 65 and older have been vaccinated with two doses, and overall 72.5% are vaccinated with two doses.
Nez tells ABC15 that they are changing how they define "fully vaccinated" on Navajo Nation by making it two doses plus a booster.
To increase booster shots, Nez signed an executive order on Monday that requires all government workers there to have a booster shot.
President Nez said they have also changed their language for what is 'fully vaccinated' as it now means two shots + booster.
— Nicole Grigg (@NicoleSGrigg) January 14, 2022
He signed an EO on Monday mandating all NN government workers to receive boosters. pic.twitter.com/yIsB4nlsOK
“I don’t know if that’s happened throughout the country yet and any other organization, so fully vaccinated means three shots now,” said Nez.
