The nation’s pandemic hotspots have shifted to rural communities, overwhelming small hospitals that are running out of beds or lack the intensive care units for more than one or two seriously ill patients. And in much of the Midwest and Great Plains, hospital workers are catching the virus at home […]
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COVID-19 Complicates the Struggle to Stay for Young Appalachians
For her senior year of college, Hannah Adams is staying home. Although Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, is open, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life on campus. “Meals are all takeout. Student groups can’t meet. I felt like I’d be more isolated there than if I stayed home,” Adams […]
Read MoreDomestic Violence in Rural America Increases During Pandemic
Rising economic pressures during the pandemic and limited access to transportation contributed to a rise in physical violence and abuse in rural households. When the state of Pennsylvania locked down for the coronavirus in March, K found herself stranded with an abusive husband and four children. She knew she couldn’t […]
Read MoreBillions in COVID Relief Has Gone to Farmers. Just Not Black or Family-Owned Farms in Appalachia.
Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. We thought Fingers in dirt meant it was our dirt, learning Names in heat, in elements classical Philosophers said could change us. Star Gazer. Foxglove. Summer seemed to bloom against the will Of the sun, which news reports claimed flamed hotter On this planet than when our […]
Read MoreIn the Ohio River Valley, the Petrochemical Boom Is on Hold
At a marina in Moundsville, West Virginia, Dan Williamson looked out across the Ohio River at a quiet stretch of land on the other side. “There’s a little activity going on,” said Williamson, a spokesman for PTT — an oil and gas company based in Thailand that wants to build […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 Costs Ohio Valley Hospitals Billions, Putting Some Rural Hospitals At Risk Of Closing
This article was originally published by Ohio Valley ReSource. In April, Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Greenup County, Kentucky, joined a long list of hospitals that have closed in the Ohio Valley. Fewer hospitals can mean longer travel times for rural residents, which can make a single hospital trip […]
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