There is no central system to track COVID-19 deaths in Indian Country, due in part to a complex network of local, state, federal and tribal data-reporting systems that often do not communicate with each other or share information. indiancountrytoday.com/news/broken-sy…

Improperly filled out death certificates that misclassify the race or ethnicity of the deceased contributes to the erasure of Native people from data sets. Those misclassifications could affect the records of almost 50% of Native people. hcn.org/articles/indig…

States have denied public-records requests for death records held by state medical examiners citing privacy concerns, preventing independent analysis of those records to determine death rates for Indigenous people. searchlightnm.org/why-covid-impa…

As more Covid19 information is released through #FOIA, questions remain about historically under investigated and isolated communities. Thanks to Indigenous Investigative Collective & MuckRock for illuminating national data problems, some questions can be answered. muckrock.com/news/archives/…

Earlier this year, the Indigenous Investigative Collective attempted to report and analyze COVID-19 death numbers in and around the Navajo Nation. Almost immediately, they met resistance from officials. poynter.org/commentary/202…

TOMORROW! Learn how reporters from ICT High Country News & Searchlight New Mexico used public records to dig into poor data keeping that hid the impact of COVID-19 in Indigenous communities. muckrock.com/news/archives/…

Happening now!

Our latest: Tribal leaders say the Mount Tabor Indian Community and the statue the group convinced Grapevine to erect represent serious failures by local and state officials to vet, or understand, claims to Indigenous heritage and tribal nation status. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/m…