What Happens When Covid 19 Hits Rural America?
Covid 19 hits dense urban areas first and fastest because of the frequent interpersonal interactions. Washington state and New York are hardest hit now; California may not be far behind, and Illinois will likely follow. Then Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
Rural America has fewer hospitals, fewer ICU beds, fewer doctors and nurses, less medical equipment, and fewer medical technicians. It has less medical resources to care for its population. The rural population is poorer and older and thus at greater risk and more susceptible to bad outcomes.
Many rural states in the South like Mississippi did not expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act so the hospitals, doctors and clinics there lack adequate financial resources to cope with this pandemic. In Texas, for example, a quarter of adults ages 18-25 are still uninsured.
The rural population is more spread out so the opportunities for infection are much less. Isolation is built in and has its advantages in fighting this highly infectious disease. It is possible that rural America will escape the worst of this pandemic. They also may be able to learn from successes, if any, in urban America and avoid the mistakes, which will be most assuredly be made, in the earliest and hardest hit states. Rural America may be better able to apply the South Korean model of widespread testing and quarantines as tests become more readily and widely available. They may not suffer from the same equipment shortages as US medical manufacturing ramps up to meet the challenge of this epidemic.
We don’t yet know when the pandemic will peak in urban America and how much breathing room will be left before the virulence of this virus spreads widely in rural America. In South Korea, religion, politics and culture, particularly among rural seniors, played major roles both in stopping or abetting the spread of Covid 19. They have the potential to play either beneficial or destructive roles in rural regions of America. Ministers, local clinicians, federal, state and local politicians, educators, coaches and other respected local figures could play critical roles in educating and stemming the rural spread of Covid 19. We still have time, but not much.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 3/21/20