Coronavirus in rural America (Part XXXV): Back to California

Both the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee are running stories today about the rural-urban divide over coronavirus in the Golden State.  It appears that cases of coronavirus in rural areas are much lower (also as measured per capita) in most rural areas, especially in far northern California.  Governor Newsom has even been responding to criticism in terms of rural-urban difference in the past few days.  Don't miss the maps produced by the Sacramento Bee, one for cases, one for deaths.  You'll see that the "hottest" counties in far northern California are Shasta (county seat Redding, the most populous county north of Sacramento) and Tehama (county seat Red Bluff, just south of Shasta County).  

Here's a quote from Leila Miller's story for the Los Angeles Times, which features a photo of Yuba City, but starts out talking about Tehama County:

For Bob Williams, the chairman of Tehama County’s Board of Supervisors, the numbers don’t justify the reality. The rural Northern California community of 65,000 has had only one case of the coronavirus, but it continues to face the same restrictions from the state as denser cities such as Los Angeles, which has had more than 23,000 cases. 

That’s why Williams has joined elected officials from the Central Coast, Central Valley, Northern California and elsewhere who have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to let them gradually lift their stay-at-home order. They have argued that their infection rates are incomparable to hot spots in the state and that the coronavirus appears under control. 

Tehama County will already suffer from the cancellation of the 99th annual Red Bluff Round-Up, a rodeo that generates $4 million to $7 million for a local economy that only has a sales tax revenue of about $2 million a year. By reopening, Williams hopes to lessen the harm. 

The story quotes Williams:

Is it fair to treat Tehama the same as L.A. County?  I think the locals that are dealing with the problem here are better suited to understand what’s needed in rural California than folks in Sacramento or L.A.

The Bee story, by Philip Reese,  Tony Bizjak and Jayson Chesler, states that the Bee's

review of infection and death rates in each of the state’s 58 counties shows vast differences in the depth of the crisis, notably between lightly-hit rural and harder-hit urban spots. The rural north state in particular stands out with lower rates.

The numbers help explain why some rural counties are pushing the governor to rescind or loosen his statewide “stay at home” order for their areas.

Among California's nonmetro counties, only Mono County has a high per capita rate of infection. I've written about the situation in Mono County, which includes the Mammoth Lake ski resort, here and here.