In May of 2020, the Navajo Nation reported one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the United States. Since that milestone, official data reveal that the Navajo Nation has been one of the hardest-hit populations since the pandemic began. The Navajo Nation boasts the largest population of any Indigenous nation in the United States, and thousands of Navajos live outside the nation, in towns along the border, cities across the country, and in other parts of the world, making it difficult to tally the virus’ impacts on Navajo citizens.

This Thursday, join us for a free training with Documenting COVID-19, the Columbia University-led initiative to help collect, analyze, and report on COVID-19 data and information around the country. This training will focus on information gleaned from analyzing medical examiner data, obtained in partnership with MuckRock through our COVID Public Info work.

In this week’s FOIA roundup, a look at how open data was shown to be misleading through a FOIA request, the case of the high-priced pens, and what FOIA shows us about name brand drugs versus generics.

Despite lacking legal authority to do so, localities and agencies around the United States are still pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for delaying responses to public records requests, sometimes indefinitely.

Building on COVID Public Info, we’re excited to announce that we’re combining efforts with Documenting COVID-19. The project, based out of Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation, is similarly working to use public records to build a shared repository to benefit newsrooms around the country.