Native Americans have experienced a dramatic decline in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic – but the drop has been in the making for generations. That’s the decline in life expectancy that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought upon American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on an August 2022 report from the National Center for Health Statistics. This astounding figure translates to an overall drop in average living years from 71.8 years in 2019 to 65.2 by the end of 2021.
Although the pandemic is a major reason for this decline, it’s not the whole story. Even before COVID-19 emerged, life expectancy for Indigenous men was already five years lower than for non-Hispanic white men in the United States.
How is Native American food tied to important sacred stories? The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that asked Washington state to remove culverts that block the migration of salmon. The ruling has significant implications for Northwest Coast tribes, whose main source of food and livelihood is salmon. The legal decision stems from the 1855 Stevens treaties when Northwest Coast tribes retained the “right to take fish” from their traditional homelands. Fighting to protect salmon habitat, however, is more than just upholding tribal rights. Salmon, like Buffalo is to Plains Indians is viewed as sacred.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
