Coronavirus in rural America (Part XXV): Trends look bad in many "rural" states without shelter-in-place directives

Here and Now (an NPR program) just reported on coronavirus trends out of Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Arkansas, none of which have shelter-in-place orders.  Not surprisingly, the trends are bad news right now in all of those states except in Arkansas, where the situation seems reasonably under control.  In Arkansas, 41 people have died since the first case was reported on March 11, and some 1800 residents have tested positive for the virus.  

In Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, however, cases are up, though the tend to be concentrated in certain cities and, even more precisely, among meatpacking workers in those cities.  In South Dakota and Nebraska, these cases are primarily in meat processing facilities in Sioux Falls and Grand Island, respectively.  Here's a story about the Grand Island outbreak, from the Omaha World Herald, "Grand Island's rate of COVID-19 cases is higher than Michigan's, close to Louisiana's, by Henry J. Cordes.  The lede follows:

The Grand Island area — by far Nebraska’s biggest coronavirus hot spot — now has rates of illness comparable to some of the hardest-hit states in the country. 

Not only does surrounding Hall County now have more cases than any county in Nebraska, its per capita case rate is almost 12 times that of Douglas County [population 517,000 and home to Omaha] and more than 25 times that of Lancaster County [population 285,000 and home to Lincoln], a World-Herald analysis found.  

Updated news out of South Dakota, from the Argus Leader is here. Lisa Kaczke writes:

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Dakota increased by 50 on Monday as legislative leaders learned the state will receive federal funds in excess of $1.5 billion to help cover costs associated with the virus' sp. [sic] 

Cases in Minnehaha county increased by 43 to 1,405 and by five in Lincoln County to 95, according to the South Dakota Department of Health. South Dakota has a total of 1,685 coronavirus cases. That doesn't include people who show symptoms but are not tested.

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The state's death toll remains at seven, according to the state health department. Recoveries increased by 65 to 709, and 13 more people have been hospitalized. The state says 87 people have been hospitalized at certain times since the state first reported cases.

Here's a headline from the Des Moines Register, "16 workers test positive for COVID-19 at Prestage pork processing plant."

Prestage Foods of Iowa says 16 employees at its Eagle Grove pork processing plant have tested positive for COVID-19. 

The plant’s operations will be limited while of its all employees and on-site service providers are tested over the next two days and the results are returned, officials with Prestage, which is based in North Carolina, said in a release Monday.

Wright County officials and the company agreed to test 62 employees who live in Black Hawk County and commute daily to the plant, given a growing number of COVID-19 positives in Black Hawk. 

Sixteen of the 62 tested positive for COVID-19 but all were asymptomatic, Wright County said. 

Prestage said that some of those commuting employees had been in contact with others in Black Hawk County who tested positive for the coronavirus.

Here's North Dakota news from Sydney Mook of the Grand Forks Herald, "3 more deaths reported in North Dakota; COVID-19 cases associated with LM Wind Power continue to rise."

The number of COVID-19 cases associated with the LM Wind Power plant in Grand Forks continues to rise as the state health department reports three more deaths Monday, April 20.

The North Dakota Department of Health says there are now 128 total positive cases associated with the LM Wind Power plant. Those associated cases include employees and close contact individuals. 

Of those numbers, 99 people tested positive for COVID-19 through a large-scale testing event that was performed at LM Wind Power last week. A total of 426 people were tested at the event -- 323 people tested negative and four tests were unable to be run. The state says that of the 99 positives 72 are LM employees, 19 are still under investigation and eight were not workers.

All of that said, look at what's happening in Wyoming, which also does not have a shelter-in-place order but which has suggested doing so is a good idea.  (Read Governor Mark Gordon's March 29 statement here, where he notes that Wyoming is a "rural" state in relation to its paucity of hospital beds and medical personnel to handle any surge.)  This report is from Robert Klemko of the Washington Post, dateline Cheyenne, population 60,000 and the state capital, tucked away in the southeast corner of a state that encompasses nearly 10,000 square miles populated by fewer than 600,000 residents, making it the 49th least dense state (the prize for sparseness no doubt going to Alaska).  The story features 67-year-old Ken Bingham, a man who both owns a jewelry store and drives a public transit bus.  His wife, who is undergoing chemotherapy, has not been within six feet of him for the past month.  Here's an excerpt from Klemko's very atmospheric report, which notes that Bingham has not closed his jewelry store and then quotes him:

Jewelry isn’t really essential, unless you’re about to lose the diamond off your ring. Then it gets real essential.

I can take care of myself. And most people can, and most people will. The government should stay out as much as they possibly can. I’m not willing to give up my freedoms for ­security.

Thus far, the coronavirus death toll in Wyoming is two, Klemko notes.  While the state has no stay-at-home order, it does have a ban on gatherings larger than 10 and the governor has urged people to stay at home, essentially to "do the right thing."  At an event today, Governor Mark Gordon reported that some cases from the Jackson area have been sent to neighboring Idaho and Utah because of lack of hospital capacity in Teton County. 

The Klemko story in the Post features several quotes from Marion Orr (R), the mayor of Cheyenne, who seems like she might not be a Trump disciple.  What follows are several of Orr's comments: 

At the end of the day, everybody has dinners to cook, homes to clean, kids to feed. So a lot of people just don’t follow up on the science and what we’re learning, because we’re dealing with real life. And that’s why we as communities have to be able to rely on health-care experts and top policymakers to do the right job.

There’s no playbook. This isn’t a tornado or a flood or, God forbid, a school shooting. So we’re throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

The message that I’m really trying to communicate is that the feeling that if the president says to open the country we should just open the floodgates and start having baseball and softball tournaments and symphony performances and everything will be fine again is misguided. 

Klemko continues:

Orr worries that such thought will increase with calls to “liberate” Wyoming. Even her family has resisted: Her son went on a camping trip with a few friends for his 21st birthday this month.

And then there is this great responding quote from Orr:

If my kids are going to insist on going out and partying during this, then I’m going to insist they don’t see their grandparents.  Because I like my parents, and I want them to live.

And here's a lack of anonymity angle on what is going on:

Two weeks ago, Orr’s brother in Laramie told her a fly-fishing shop in town had numerous guests requesting licenses from out of state, including counties in Colorado with much higher rates of infection. Orr reached out to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which soon after issued a temporary suspension of out-of-state fishing licenses.