Rural communities must get serious about responding to COVID-19

SANDRA RENNER

Farm and Community director

Center for Rural Affairs

We are nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic and cases in rural America are increasing at a rapid rate. The impacts vary greatly across rural states, yet per-capita infections are most extreme in communities occupied by meatpacking plants, predominantly in the Midwest, low-income African American communities in the Southeast and Native Americans.

Rural racial health inequities rose to the top quickly as the pandemic came to a head. Many rural communities need COVID-19 information shared widely in additional languages. On top o...