Tribes Learn To Protect Themselves Amidst Covid-19 Scare

In fear of getting wiped out as a ethnic community, indigenous groups in South America are shunning away any contact with foreign visitors

Tribes fear extinction at the hands of the Corona Virus

The pandemic is a silent war we are waging- there is no escape and this has been understood even by the indigenous groups residing in South America. Indigenous tribes are now locking down and closing off their reserves to visitors for the fear of contracting the corona virus.

The fear of the pandemic is fast spreading across South America and they might be right in believing that it would wipe them out.  As social distancing becomes a norm, for those living as tribes, this is extremely difficult to implement.

Indigenous groups have been trying to fight for their survival. Their existence is threatened by oil exploration, deforestation and illegal logging. The tribe groups are spread from Columbia to Brazil. There are reasons to believe that the tribes might not have developed any resistance to such viruses and therefore be susceptible to succumb to them as a complete race.

In Colombia — home to about 2 million indigenous people, according to the government — tribal leaders from the northern snow-capped mountains to the remote tropical forests of the south have issued advice to their communities. As nations resort to lock-downs, it is becoming more prominent that visitors are not entertained anywhere near the tribe settlements.

Many tribes are at risk because of a history of poverty and malnutrition induced lack of immunity. Most have not encountered a foreigner since 1940s and therefore remain protected from any exposure to infections that are essentially a byproduct of lifestyle anomalies or unhygienic food and living conditions.  

“Historically we know that indigenous people have a greater biological vulnerability (to epidemics), especially to respiratory infections,” said Ana Paula Vargas, Brazil program manager for Amazon Watch, an indigenous rights group.