Knowing it may be met with some skepticism, the Trump administration announced last week a sweeping plan that officials say will transform health care in rural America. Even before the coronavirus pandemic reached into the nation’s less-populated regions, rural Americans were sicker, poorer and older than the rest of the […]
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This article was originally published by Ohio Valley ReSource. The first day of classes at Ohio University is subdued this year. A few students walk across the Athens, Ohio, campus wearing masks. A group sits, socially distanced, on blankets on the green. The university opted to bring back roughly 2,000 […]
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Peggy Elkins’ grandkids may be returning to school this week, but life won’t be back to normal. Elkins, 62, plans to have them take off their clothes and shoes at the door and have hand sanitizer waiting on the porch. But then again, what is normal, anyway? Is it raising […]
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Nearly six months into the ongoing pandemic, West Virginia continues to see a surge in coronavirus cases. The rise in cases comes as K-12 schools reopen. West Virginia currently has the highest rate of spread of the virus in the entire nation with an R-t value of 1.28. In a Tuesday […]
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With the epidemic still burning through the country and public trust in the media at an all time low, rural journalists struggle with added pressures and mental stress of the new and dangerous reality they help cover in the news. On a typical day, a council meeting in a cramped […]
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Rural areas now account for a disproportionately large share of new infections and deaths. After a three-week reprieve from rising COVID-19 cases, the number of new infections in rural counties increased last week, climbing by 9 percent. During the same period, new cases in metropolitan counties dropped by 8 percent. […]
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