The big rural NYTimes headline from yesterday is "The Worst Virus Outbreaks in the U.S. Are Now in Rural Areas." The lede follows:
The coronavirus was slow to come to Foster County, N.D., a community of just over 3,000 people in the eastern part of the state. When virus cases surged in the Northeast in the spring, the county recorded just one positive case. When national case counts peaked in mid-July, it had recorded just two more.
But by Tuesday, about one in every 20 residents had tested positive for the virus. More than half of those cases were reported in the past two weeks.
Most of the worst outbreaks in the United States right now are in rural places like Foster County. Where earlier peaks saw virus cases concentrated mainly in cities and suburbs, the current surge is the most geographically dispersed yet, and it is hitting hard remote counties that often lack a hospital or other critical health care resources.
Since late summer, per capita case and death rates in rural areas have outpaced those in metropolitan areas.
I'll just note that these dire outcomes were forecast for many months, in part because of under-resourced rural hospitals and health care systems. Don't miss out on the maps and interactive features accompanying this story. Don't miss prior posts about the Great Plains states generally and about the coronavirus outbreak there more specifically.
Other coverage includes this New York Times story out of Hamilton, Montana, population 4,348, where the state-wide mask law has been openly flouted. The story, which appeared in the business section, depicts Hamilton as a town experiencing rural gentrification, where one coffee shop enforces a mask requirement (and to the people lining up wear Lululemon tights) and a competitor does not (presumably serving long-timers). Hamilton is the county seat of Ravalli County, population 40,212, on the Idaho state line.
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