US rural areas could soon be at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic

May 6 (UPI) — The COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for destruction in the city centers of the northeastern United States, but experts say the next outbreak is hot due to reduced access to healthcare. We are concerned that the spot may have more impact on rural areas.

Experts said they were concerned about the southeastern United States, particularly Georgia and Tennessee, on Tuesday, highlighting the crisis in the Navajo Southwest as an example of a potential problem.

The reservation, which covers parts of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, reports over 2,300 confirmed cases of the virus, despite a total population of just over 350,000.

According to the Navajo Ministry of Health, 46 deaths from the virus per 100,000 people and illness mortality among tribal members are higher than anywhere else in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Massachusetts.

“In some rural areas, where dramatic increases have been seen, are places where social distance restrictions have been relaxed,” Carrie Henning-Professor and Researcher at the University of Minnesota Department of Public Health. Dr Smith said at a press conference Tuesday.

To date, nearly 1.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

At least hundreds of cases have been reported in all 50 US states, but more than 30% of people diagnosed to date live in the New York City metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey and Connecticut I will. But things may be changing. Henning Smith said.

Although the number of new cases in the country’s largest cities and surrounding areas appears to be declining, new cases in other parts of the country suffering from poverty and having limited access to health services. An outbreak has occurred.

A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month highlighted the country’s territory with a rapidly increasing number of cases, including Iowa and North Dakota and South Dakota.

Since then, more than 10,000 confirmed cases have been reported in Iowa. Hundreds of victims work at meat processing plants throughout the state.

Doherty County, in southwestern Georgia, has reported more than 1,500 cases in the area where Henning Smith and her colleagues at the University of Minnesota have done a lot of research work.

Many residents of these areas are more vulnerable to the new coronavirus. For example, a high percentage of them live in poverty — according to the US Census Bureau, the South is a region of the United States with the highest poverty rate of 13%, and may not be able to provide treatment with COVID-19. there is.

Also, although 8.5% of Americans nationwide do not have health insurance, the proportion is much higher in some predominantly rural states. This includes 18% of Texas. According to the US Census Bureau, Oklahoma has 14% and Georgia has 14%.

“In general, the differences between rural and urban areas are significant, and they are starting to emerge now,” says William Hanage, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chang Public Health School said at a conference call last week.

“I’m worried about rural areas, as once I’ve started to see the virus in there, it can spread so quickly, and some small towns really hit big. I am receiving it, “Hanage said.

The states with the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes, such as Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia, are also predominantly rural. People with heart disease and diabetes seem to be at higher risk of serious illness with COVID-19.

The lack of hospital beds, personal protective equipment, and medical personnel in urban areas is well documented, according to Henning Smith, but these problems are probably even more acute in rural areas.

According to Cecil G. Shepps Health Service Research Center at the University of North Carolina, 170 rural hospitals have been closed since 2005, 128 hospitals since 2010, and eight by 2020 in rural areas.

According to Henning Smith, the outbreak of COVID-19 was the cause of at least three hospital closures this year, and the disease had already been taxed on limited resources.

Many of these hospitals face challenges in obtaining critical equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators because their budgets are lower than the larger hospitals in the city.

“By itself, many rural hospitals can’t line up with PPE or other necessary equipment or buy at a reasonable price,” said Henning Smith.

Outbreaks in larger cities create more headlines, but for those at greater risk in densely populated areas, the COVID-19 crisis in more rural areas they bring She said that as much attention needs to be paid because of unique public health issues.

As Hanage pointed out, it is called a “pandemic” because it has the ability to infect everywhere, not just in large population centers.

“Rural areas occupy most of the land in the United States,” said Henning Smith. “We need to ensure that we have adequate funding to ensure that we have adequate testing and equipment needed for our local hospitals and providers.”