COVID-19
COVID-19 Kills Twice More Rural Americans Vs City Folk
According to data from the Rural Policy Research Institute, COVID-19 is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of urban dwellers. Sadly, many health experts are bracing for the gap to widen further. Medical care tends to shrink for the older, poorer, and less vaccinated population.
RELATED: US COVID-19 Cases Hit 40 Million As Delta Strain Goes Wild
Rural Americans Are Suffering More From COVID-19
Rural Americans comprise between 15% to 20% of the total US population. The initial coronavirus surge largely ignored the countryside, and instead focused on the denser urban areas. Within a year into the pandemic, the mortality rates began to trend inversely.
The RPRI data showed that since the start of the pandemic, 1 in 434 rural Americans died from COVID-19 compared to 1 in 513 for city residents. Even as the availability of vaccines became widespread, rural mortality rates are now twice as high as metro folk.
Now, 7-day averages for rural Americans are now around 0.8 deaths per 100,000 population. In contrast, urban Americans posted 0.4 deaths per 100,000 people. Unlike their city counterparts, the vaccine rollout has yet to create an impact on rural Americans’ COVID death rates.
COVID Incidence Rates Also Higher In Rural Areas
COVID-19 rates are also going up in the countryside. Last September, infection rates in rural areas posted a 54% increase compared to other areas.
This is according to Fred Ullrich, a University of Iowa College of Public Health research analyst. In addition, rural counties in 29 states reported higher rates of Covid than their urban counterparts.
Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association, said that little is being done addressing America’s rural areas. “There is a national disconnect between perception and reality when it comes to Covid in rural America.
We’ve turned many rural communities into kill boxes. And there's no movement towards addressing what we're seeing in many of these communities, either among the public or among governing officials,” he said.
Higher Cases, Lower Vaccination
Even if rural Americans tend to have higher cases and lower vaccine rates, it still doesn’t fully explain the higher mortality rates. Many health officials point out that rural Americans are more likely to be in poor health.
They also have lesser access to medical care. Add to that the growing problem of a lack of medical staff in the countryside. These combinations likely contribute to the worsening situation.
Many experts agree that vaccinations remain the most effective frontline defense against COVID-19’s serious complications. At present, 53% of urban Americans already have at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Meanwhile, rural Americans only have a 41% completion rate. It’s not necessarily the country folk’s fault. Limited supplies along with the remoteness of vaccine centers help make the process more difficult.
However, vaccine hesitancy, conflicting information, and politics are also present in the mix. Often, interest in getting vaccines spikes up when a relative or acquaintance dies.
Overloaded Hospital Systems Also Affect Rural Americans’ COVID Death Rates
In addition, overwhelmed hospital systems across the country often leave COVID-19 stricken rural Americans in the lurch.
When smaller rural health centers need help dealing with patients, they usually transfer the more serious cases to regional or urban hospitals. However, with all centers at full capacity, nobody can accommodate rural patients.
“We literally have email Listservs of rural chief nursing officers or rural CEOs sending up an SOS to the group, saying, ‘We’ve called 60 or 70 hospitals and can’t get this heart attack or stroke patient or surgical patient out and they’re going to get septic and die if it goes on much longer,’” said John Henderson, president, and CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals.
Watch the KTVB news video reporting on how Idaho coroners are handling the growing number of COVID-19 deaths:
Loading ...What can the US do to help rural Americans get more attention from the government? What support do country folk need to lower their COVID death rates?
Tell us what you think. Share your comments below.
16 Comments
Vaccination is not a truly tested vaccine and should not be used
Leave us alone and let us take care of ourselves we don’t need government to help us. Haven’t been sick yet still to this date don’t know anyone that has got the virus or let alone died from so we must be doing something right without big governments help. Leave us alone!
ABSOLUTELY!
When will see a TRUTHFUL government report?
1. Those who actually died FROM Covid 19
2. Those who died from other medical illness with Covid 19
3. THOSE WHO DIED FROM “DES”———DEPOPULATION EXPERIMENTAL SERUM !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Set up mobile sites to assist in getting rural communities access to vaccinations.
The only reason is POLITICS. RETRUMPLICANSQ ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE A SHOT BECAUSE THEIR DADDY trump TILD THEM ITS A HOAX AND JUST LIKE THE FLU WILL BE OVER SOON JUST TRY DRINKING LYSOL. AND THEY BELIEVE EVERYTHING DADDY trump says no matter what lies he says they believe.
Did your mother have any children that lived?
This report is so full of misleading data and outright propaganda. Do your own research. These numbers are laughable. Only morons would see this information as credible
There’s no disparity. This is political correctness and creating problems where there are none.
Hey Retrumplicanq, so you lack critical thinking skills. Orangeman’s admin got the vaccine and that dunny took it too. And maybe you haven’t heard but he’s pushing the poisonous, non vaccine also. And maybe ypu conveniently forget but it was RETARDED democrats, one of them your ho bag VP that said she wouldn’t take it if it came out under Trump, and maby others. Besides, Trump was right, hut for the wrong reason. It is a hoax hut not because there isnt a flu. Corona has been around since the 60’s. But weirdo Fraudci with the help of Joe’s lover, Xi created this version so you can’t stop a flu spread with a gene therapy only designed to lesson the symptoms, if it doesn’t kill you, give you a heart attack, myocarditis, bells palsy, blindness, and on and on and on. So go ahead and take it, take 5 doses, but leave others alone. Be careful what you wish for! You lose soveignty over our bodies, you have NOTHING! Wasn’t too long ago this country performed lobotomies. Plus, comirnaty has an approval, there is no FULL approval from the FDA. And if you’re vaxxed, look out when you come into contact with the virus! Every poisoned person I know has become far sicker than the ones who aren’t!
Bells’s Palsy??? Nay , “Gullian-Barre'”. . “Gillian-Barre’ Syndrome” is A DISEASE that slowly causes you to lose muscle , muscle to stand and grip with , to breathe with and then it makes you to weak to stand ,walk ,left , or breathe and you die without a device to breathe for you. Bell’s palsy does not do that.
Sam and a few others. YOU lack “Critical Thinking Skills”. Twas your momma Pelosi who said that Trump was “overstepping his authority to MAKE people use a mask and there wasn’t a vaccine for Wuhan Virus, however , she back peddled when it came out , and SAID SHE WASN’T going to take it” , then Old Biden snuck in the back door , and “SUDDENLY!” the vaccine is OKAY! So , “SAM” , you have been suckered in by drinking the kool-aide , and you are “approving a Communist Chinese style” of government , by supporting Biden .
Rand, if you think thst I supoort Pelosi, or any other idiot from the left, then you have some serious lack of reading comprehension skills. I don’t support any politicians, ZERO! Including Trump or any other republican. He just wants credit for his “totally safe” “vaccine.” That they somehow came up within 8 months. It’s probably the same one thats been killing everyone and every ferret it has been pumped into since 2000. They’re all in on it and 99% of them probably own stock in Pfizer, along with 70 CCP members.
And if you’re not aware of bells palsy cases post vaccine, you’re not working hard enough for your news. In fact, my brother in law is experiencing this. Perfectly healthy 52 year old. Within 2 days of vaccination was experiencing bells palsy symptoms. Not my diagnosis, the ER’s. Then became sick, tested negative twice and now constantly feels like crap. He’ll probably die soon, and his wife has increased his life insurance. He can barely do his job, can’t play with his kids and has a slew of other health issues now. So is that a guarantee, probably not, but it’s enough for me. Besides, for me, I already had covid and have been in contact with at least 6 (that I know of) positive cases and haven’t become sick. So for me personally, I’ll keep my natural immunity. I don’t wear masks, even in stores, and if they say they’re calling the police I hand them a cease and desist. AND, I will not take any experimental, no phase 3 tested gene therapy. Good luck fighting amongst one another. It’s the government everyone should be united in fighting! After all, they’re breaking the LAW!
If you allow the government to break the law because of an emergency then they will always create an emergency to break the law! Covid 19=man-made emergency.
do any of you live in the rural or mountain areas and if so, for how long??? Healthcare and related facilities in the mountains and rural areas were awful prior to ObamaCare. Since ObamaCare there have been very direct efforts to close down most Rural and Mountain hospitals and leave only reduced care and urgent care facilities and services. They now use the ‘hub spoke’ model for health care. If you live in a small town, you go to an urgent care facility and if you have a serious issue, like complications with birthing a child, they put you in an ambulance or a helicopter and transport you to the ‘hub hospital’ for your geographical area. Hopefully, an hour or two later, when you arrive at the ‘hub hospital’ you are still living or have not turned critical during the long travel period. The government taking over most of healthcare, as with any other government-run entity, is a disaster!
FYI, I have lived in Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh Durham, Dubai, Doha, Erbil, Taiwan. People in rural and mountain areas get poop healthcare! Thus, I would guess, that most rural and mountain areas of the USA have higher death rates for any trauma, emergency care or any other death category that is tracked nationally!
We don’t know who to believe about numbers of COVID cases, vaccines or this crisis. Why would I believe anything Fauci suggests. This jerk is the man who backed/funded the testing of this deadly virus in the China lab…Why the F… does this dirt bag still have a job! He states masks are good for all yet he doesn’t wear one. Trump wanted to shut down the borders before the virus entered the US but dems said Noooo cant do that let’s shut down the country instead. Let’s make Trump look bad because he’s doing too good with jobs and the economy. Now what have we got. Businesses closing, people don’t want to work businesses offering more pay to try to get help and turning the cost back to their customers…..inflation! We have a senile president that arrogantly makes decisions that should not be made that causes death to innocent people and military. Can’t get rid of him because look who’s in line next…VP Harris who doesn’t know her ass from a whole in the ground. Parades around because she is a woman and minority….and then Pelosi, the wicked witch of the West who I give credit to for the great divide in government against Dems and Reps. People we are in a heap of shit. Oh and by the way I am NOT racist! I don’t care what sex or color you are., Can you do the job. Are you going to save this Great country we live in, do things for the benefit ALL Americans, spend our hard earns taxes we pay in for the betterment of this country and not in your own interest to keep feeding it to special groups to attain future votes.
God Bless America!
You got it. How do you make the democraps understand? Everything is so obvious. They cheated to win, liars, thieves, traitors. My son was in Afghanistan during evacuation. OMG!