| WILLIAM CARSON (Ohkay Owingeh), Doctoral Student and Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health

The COVID-19 response in New Mexico demonstrates a fundamental failing with the current state-Tribal collaboration policies. Despite New Mexico’s state’s recent history of enacting policy to encourage collaboration with the 23 Tribes in the state, the early pandemic response exposed issues of a lack of data issues emerged over data sharing and collaboration with Tribal Nations early in the pandemic. This case study reviews ways the state of New Mexico failed to support the Tribal Nations within its borders in the initial stages of the pandemic and proposes policy changes to ensure stronger collaboration that upholds Tribal sovereignty in future emergencies.
 
The pandemic led to recurrent issues around data sharing and access, where non-Tribal organizations could access Tribal data while Tribal Nations had limited access to data. These actions suppressed New Mexico based Tribal Nations’ inherent rights to self-governance and of data sovereignty. In addition, there were several cases seen where hospitals and news agencies received highly detailed data on Indigenous people in the state without Tribal approvals or access to those same data. These actions resulted in the publishing of data to the public and discriminatory policies and practices by healthcare providers. The state of New Mexico must update their laws and policies to ensure collaboration is required between state agencies and Tribal Nations and that Tribal sovereignty is respected in all situations.