Since the onset of the global pandemic that began flourishing in March 2020, COVID-19 alone has become the third leading cause of death among Americans — falling just behind heart disease and cancer. But perhaps more striking is how the increasing and ongoing health disparities lived by Indigenous communities even now, two years into this new reality, continue to be overlooked.

Indigenous communities across New Mexico have been doing tremendous work to prevent the wide spread of COVID-19, and have protected those most vulnerable in our communities. In the early months of the pandemic, data was collected on how many people in each Pueblo contracted COVID-19, how many recovered and how many died from the virus.

However, not much data has been collected to date that helps us understand how many community members suffer from the lingering symptoms and health complications weeks, months and even years after an acute COVID-19 infection. This is what is referred to as long-haul COVID.