COVID-19 closures and supply chain failures have sharpened concerns about food security and more. Rural areas were not spared from the worries. For those of us who grew up in rural families where gardening, canning and a freezer full of meat are just normal preparations for winter, 2020 has been […]
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During Voting Season, Trump Counties Have Higher Infection Rates
The counties where Donald Trump won by the largest margin in the 2016 election are also the places where the coronavirus has spread the quickest in the weeks leading up to the election a Daily Yonder analysis shows. Counties that voted by a landslide (more than a 20-point margin) for […]
Read MoreDespite COVID Concerns, Teams Venture Into Nursing Homes to Get Out the Vote
RALEIGH, N.C. — Each time Beverly Tucker visited a nursing home or long-term care facility this fall she brought along a rolling tote bag packed with supplies from the Durham County Board of Elections. Boxes of face masks and face shields. Latex gloves and cleaning wipes. Hand sanitizer from Mystic […]
Read MoreRural Counties Have 5th Consecutive Week of Record-Setting COVID Rates
Rural infections were instrumental in pushing the nation to a new peak in COVID cases last week. A spike in rural infections last week pushed the nation to a new peak in COVID-19 cases. Rural counties had a record 17,818 new infections on Friday, October 23. Even though metropolitan cases […]
Read MoreIn Rural Virginia, Remote Schoolwork Is Powered by the Sun
Solar-powered internet hotspots in Louisa County, Virginia, help fill the void in internet access in rural areas. A few times a week, Daphne MacDougall and her three kids pile into the car and head for the Holly Grove Christian Church, about two miles from their home in southeast Louisa County, […]
Read MoreJust Another Wednesday: When the DOJ Purdue Plea Agreement Was Announced, Harm Reduction Activists in Appalachia Were Busy
Last Wednesday in Portsmouth, Ohio, a team of organizers with River Valley Organizing Project was out canvassing and encountered a man outside a corner store who was overdosing. The organizers were having folks fill out a survey—asking them what they love about their community, what they’d like to see changed, […]
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