Coronavirus in rural America (Part XXXXVII): Amy Klobuchar goes to bat for rural folks

Jennifer Rubin's column in the Washington Post a few days ago featured an interview with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota).  Here's a quote of what Senator Klobuchar says (which is stuff most ruralists already know, but hey--she's got the voice to get it in a national newspaper):

“Rural Americans are more likely to be older, more likely to have less money and more likely to be uninsured.  One in five rural Americans is a person of color. Rates of child poverty are higher.” These are the factors that make Americans in the heartland particularly vulnerable to a surge in coronavirus cases as red-state governors prematurely announce they are opening their states. The uptick in cases in rural America now is as predictable as it is tragic. “That’s what we have been worried about from the beginning,” Klobuchar said. And to make matters worse, she noted, 14 (mostly deep-red) states have not expanded Medicaid.

The concerns about rural America that Klobuchar has been working on for years take center stage in the midst of a pandemic. “Child care has always a concern considered a women’s issue. Now more and more it is seen as an economic issue,” she said. Without someone to watch the kids, many parents cannot go back to work. “You’re seeing parents deliberately take two shifts,” she said, explaining that many parents must both work to watch the kids. Her child-care bill introduced with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) last year may now attract greater interest. “It is critical to the economy,” she said. 

“The way I look at the pandemic is that it is not separate from the future. It should be a light on disparities in the economy,” Klobuchar said. Child-care, broadband or rural health-care issues have simmered for years, but they are now major impediments to surviving the pandemic both physically and economically. “Broadband [availability] is so unfair,” she explained. “If you are a small farmer, you are working, but now you’re supposed to teach your kids. But you don’t have broadband.” In tribal lands, the problem is also acute. She recalls one instance in which one family got Internet service only to look outside and see other kids doing their homework on their lawn thanks to their Internet.

And here's a story by Dennis Thompson in U.S. News and World Report on COVID-19's reach into rural America.  One source of rural infections that I'd not previously heard about:  rural communities on Interstate Highways that have truck stops in them.

The story features some quotes from Professor Carrie Henning-Smith, who teaches health policy and management at the University of Minnesota.

As of last week, 86% of rural counties had at least one COVID-19 case, and one-third of rural counties had at least one COVID-19 death. 

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It's really challenging to do track-and-trace when you have to drive 45 minutes to an hour to get to the next town.  It takes more time and a lot more effort to reach people in places where people are not living close to one another.