May 08, 2020
Dr Rawiri Taonui | COVID Māori Update 8 May 2020 | Comparisons with other Indigenous Communities and Pacific Communities
COVID Māori Update 8 May 2020 | Comparisons with other Indigenous Communities and Pacific Communities
Dr Rawiri Taonui
Māori
There are ZERO new Māori cases today. The total stays at 126. The 10-day trend runs: 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-0. Maori have had 16 ZERO days since 12 April. This is testament to the tremendous effort of Māori protecting communities, looking after the vulnerable and standing on checkpoints. With the immaculate ethnic inaccuracy of an imperial dissimulator, the Ministry of Health says Māori are 8% of all cases. Māori stay at 8.5%. The single decimal place is important for tracking the current trend.
Pacific Peoples
In particularly good news, there are ZERO new Pacific cases again today. The total stays at 79. The 10-day trend runs: 1-1-0-1-2-0-0-0-0-0. There have been 9 ZERO days since 20 April. This is a huge credit to the strength of aiga to protect the community. With the immaculate ethnic inaccuracy of a non-egalitarian equivocator, the Ministry of Health says Pacific are 5.0% of all cases. Pacific cases are 5.3%.
Māori and Pacific Percentage Cases
The table above compares Māori and Pacific cases with the ethnic demographic from the Ministry of Health’s model of the population, which allocates one identity per person for anyone who, for example, identifies as Māori and Pacific, and, Census 2018 which allows a person to self-identify with more than one ethnicity. Those most at risk are MELAA (Middle East, Latin American, African), European and Asian.
Indigenous Peoples
The strength of the Māori and Pacific communities in the face of the challenge of the COVID-19 menace has been nothing short of magnificent, the effort is incredible. Extraordinary times require extraordinary leaders to mobilise and motivate ordinary people and communities to do extraordinary things. That has been the story of our communities in the fightback against COVID-19.
Our brothers and sisters in other Indigenous and other vulnerable cultures have not fared so well. There are grave fears for the 826 indigenous communities of Latin America totalling 45 million people. In addition to centuries of suppression and indignation, COVID-19 threatens the survival of many of these First Nation groups if they are unable to secure aid.
Of particular concern is President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil whose social media campaign ‘Brazil can't stop’ prioritised keeping Latin America’s largest economy ticking instead of locking down activities to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Bolsonaro’s social media campaign ran into a barrage of criticism from state governors, politicians, public health experts and even his own health minister. Last week, a federal judge banned the campaign. With COVID-19 already being found among tribes in the Amazon, there is significant alarm about what will unfold.
Native American communities in the United States are reporting the US government has not delivered on help promised them. Worse hit is the Navajo Nation in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. With the population of 380,000, about half that of Māori, the Navajo have 2,500 cases, 20 times higher than Māori, the equivalent if we were to have 5,000 cases. There have been 75 deaths. In the irony of the richest country in the world having one of the weakest COVID-19 responses in the world, the Navajo rate of infection is third behind New York and New Jersey.
Pacific Islands/Communities
The death rate of the Pacific Island community in the United States is 12 times higher than that for other Americans. One of the main problems has been an absence of recognition and support for their historical vulnerabilities. The same applies in West Papua, where in addition to the military occupation since 1960, the Indonesian government has supplied little aid to West Papua. Trepidation of a very deadly outbreak is mounting.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, there is better news. Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia (excluding Guam), the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu have not had any cases of COVID-19. One of their key strengths has been that given the history of European diseases wreaking havoc through the island during the 1800s and 1900s, the governments have been exceptionally strong and decisive in securing their borders. As an example of how effective these efforts have been, just north of the Federated States, the island of Guam, which is under US control, has more than 500 cases.
West Papua aside for the moment, several islands with cases have reported positive progress. New Caledonia has reported no new cases in 2 weeks, Fiji is down to just 4 active cases, and the Northern Mariana Islands announced their last case has recovered. And in a lesson for New Zealand, Tonga is keeping its borders closed, Samoa will keep theirs closed until the end of May and the Marshall Islands until June.
New Zealand Situation
New and Total Cases
There are 2 new cases today. One probable case has been redefined as negative. Total cases are 1490. There are no new deaths. Total deaths stay at 21. New cases are single-digit or ZERO for 19 consecutive days. The 10-day trend is: 2-3-3-6-2-0-0-2-1-2. We have made considerable progress but have not yet fully eliminated COVID-19 from our shores.
Recovered and Active Cases
In another key index, 1347 or 90.4% of all cases have recovered. Recovered cases are nearly 10x higher than active cases. There is a new low of 122 active cases, the lowest number of active cases since 23 March. We will have less than 100 active cases on Monday 11 May when the government will decide whether we move to Level 2.
Testing
There were a record 7,812 tests yesterday. The total is 175,835 at a rate of 35,167 tests per million. Countries like Lithuania, Israel, Estonia, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, and Italy have testing rates between 40,000 and 60,00 per million. We need to keep testing.
Noho haumaru, stay safe and self-sovereign, Dr Rawiri Taonui.
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