COVID-19 Surges In Rural Communities, Overwhelming Some Local Hospitals https://www.npr.org/sections/health...communities-overwhelming-some-local-hospitals As the coronavirus outbreak surges across the country, many rural communities — places which were largely spared during the early months of the pandemic — are now seeing an unprecedented spike in infections and hospitalizations. The pandemic's grip on rural America is especially alarming because many of these less populated areas rely on small hospitals, which don't have the beds or staff to absorb a crush of patients, especially those who require high levels of care. In early September, the rate of new infections per capita started climbing quickly in the country's most rural counties reaching what are now record levels — significantly higher than what is being seen in the major urban areas, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is a similar trend in smaller metro areas, although not quite as dramatic. "Rural is not a refuge," says Keith Mueller, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Public Health and director of the Rural Policy Research Institute. "These counties may be sparsely populated, but it also means that sparsely populated is not an assurance that spread won't happen." In the Midwest, cases have climbed on average nearly 60% over the past two weeks, compared to 35% nationally. And across the country, most non-metropolitan counties have now recorded at least 100 cases or more per 10,000 people since the pandemic began — that's almost double what it was in early September. Even though the raw numbers may seem small compared to cities, rural counties in states like Kansas, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska now have some of the highest rates of infections per capita in the country. And in many places, hospitalizations are also at record levels. The surge in rural America is not uniform across the country; some communities got hit during the spring and summer for example, when there were big outbreaks at food processing plants. This week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine reiterated his concerns about the pandemic's foothold in his state's rural counties, saying that many of the residents being hospitalized are coming from those communities rather than the major cities. "Please wear the masks," DeWine pleaded, "rural counties, we're not seeing the mask wearing is high, we would like to really see it get up." In North Dakota, Dr. Misty Anderson, an internist, is worried about the pandemic's hold on small cities and towns like Valley City, N.D., where she lives — just an hour west of Fargo. "I never lost any patients until recently and I lost a couple in just one week," says Anderson, who's also president of the North Dakota Medical Association. "It has gotten into a nursing home in our area." North Dakota's hospitals are filling up and cases are at record levels. But Anderson has noticed that many people in her state seem less willing to wear masks and follow social distancing recommendations than they were during the spring. "It's like every man for themself," she says. "In my local hospital so far, we've been lucky, but we're ready and prepared." While Anderson now practices in North Dakota, her family is from a small county of only about 1,300 people just over the border in South Dakota — a place that recently had a major spike in cases. "It got into their school. It got into their bank, people my mom works with and knows," says Anderson, who was dismayed to hear some residents still didn't seem to take it seriously. "One person actually said, 'I had COVID and it was the best thing that ever happened to me,'" she recalls. "Who says stuff like that?" In many rural communities, small hospitals rely on moving patients to major metro areas when they need a higher level of care or when there are not enough staffed beds. "Our biggest challenge right now has been finding beds when we need them," says Beverly Vilhauer, CEO of South Central Health in Wishek, N.D., which is about 100 miles from Bismark. "What we're finding out is that the bigger hospitals, they don't have enough available staffed ICU beds." While her hospital has two dozen beds, Vilhauer says it can only staff about six to eight beds at a time and doesn't have a respiratory therapist who can manage seriously ill COVID-19 patients. This situation is typical for many smaller facilities, known as "critical access hospitals," at the moment, she says. In Carroll County, a hotspot in the western half of Iowa, about 20% of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive. "We've actually expanded our COVID unit three times," says Edward Smith, CEO of St. Anthony Regional Hospital, which has been receiving patients from smaller hospitals in the area. "We've taken care of patients from five different counties." Smith says staffing is the biggest challenge because health care workers are getting exposed to the coronavirus while out in the community. "We are seeing greater absenteeism at work due to employee illness or their kids or their husbands," he says. Rural areas also tend to have an older population with higher rates of poverty and chronic disease than suburban and urban areas. "It is very troubling to see the virus spreading into areas where a higher proportion of the population is at risk of having a severe case," says Dr. Nancy Dickey, director of Texas A&M's Rural and Community Health Institute and former president of the American Medical Association. "The majority of rural hospitals are struggling, most of them on a good day are relatively short staffed and people wear multiple hats," she says. Once the pandemic gets into rural communities, containing the spread can be especially challenging because they don't have the same public health resources and staff as more urban areas. A big city can quickly open up a COVID-19 testing site and bring in thousands of people, but the same is not necessarily true in rural areas, she says. The U.S. was expected to have a surge of cases during the fall and winter months as people moved indoors. But rooting out infections in places without adequate testing — or policies requiring facemasks — will make it all the more difficult, says Aaron Wendelboe, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The cumulative death rate in rural Oklahoma has surpassed metro areas. "We really could have done better during the summer to prevent some cases and not be so full in our hospitals. I think that the transmission really does reflect the community's behavior," Wendelboe says. Iowa, the Dakotas, Montana, Oklahoma and Missouri do not have statewide mask mandates, but Wendelboe says some local governments in Oklahoma have passed their own local requirements. "It's clear that those communities with mask mandates have a more flat trajectory," he says.
‘Getting worse by the minute’: DeWine urges action as Ohio sets another COVID-19 record https://www.wlwt.com/article/gettin...s-ohio-sets-another-covid-19-record/34453274#
COVID Spikes in Rural MI: "No One is Getting a Pass on the Pandemic" https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2...ne-is-getting-a-pass-on-the-pandemic/a71856-1 COVID-19 cases are on the rise almost everywhere, but the share of new cases in rural Michigan counties is outpacing the new caseload in metro counties. According to an analysis by The Daily Yonder, nearly 70% of the nation's more than 1,900 rural counties now are in the red zone, a term used by the White House Coronavirus Task Force to designate areas where the spread of the virus is out of control. Tim Marema, editor of The Daily Yonder, said 44% of Michigan's 57 rural counties are now on that list. "The surge in rural areas tells me there's really no place in America immune or protected from the virus," Marema stated. "Each community is at risk or will be at risk. It's just a matter of time." Rural America had more than 82,000 new infections last week, which Marema said is a 16% increase and the fourth consecutive week of record-breaking levels of new cases. The total number of rural residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 now tops one million. The new infection rate in rural Michigan is 89.7 per 100,000, compared with 79.6 in metro areas. Marema explained at the start of the pandemic, outbreaks of COVID-19 in rural areas were mostly linked to places where people are in close proximity, such as nursing homes and meat-packing plants. He said community spread in rural counties became more widespread in the past couple of months. "Michigan had an early surge in the Detroit area that made the metropolitan rate much higher back in March and April," Marema reported. "Since that time, the rates have been running parallel. But since about the middle of September, the rate of new infections in rural areas has moved at a much bigger pace than urban areas." Marema noted the surge in rural counties is not entirely avoidable, but it is controllable. He said steps such as wearing a mask, social distancing and limiting contact with large groups can slow the spread. "The measures that we're able to take right now can go a long way in containing the virus, the health experts tell me," Marema added. "But they don't do any good if you don't practice them. It's not easy but it's not complicated." Just 14% of the country's population lives in a rural county, where last week more than 21% of new cases originated.
Now you’ve just posted articles about two states who’s approach to fighting Covid is 180 degrees, Oklahoma vs. Michigan but both are seeing spikes. This is the same pattern we see on a global basis, regardless of the safety and social distancing measures, countries are seeing spikes.
The reality is that rural counties in both these states are not using masks or doing social distancing -- this drives a large spike in COVID-19 cases.
I live in rural Oklahoma, early on in the pandemic I watched everyone walking around maskless, but there were very few cases in this area. Today and it’s been this way for a couple of months, vast majority of the population wears masks in public. When rednecks wear them inside home depot, the world is coming to an end. So the whole, no one is social distancing theme is crap. Covid spreads because Covid is contagious just like every other coronavirus and flu. Masks may slow it but masks won’t stop it. If you want a sure way to combat the virus, lock everyone in their homes at gunpoint for 45 days. Those infected will either survive or die, the rest of us can then emerge to a bankrupt society.
"Health Board in north Idaho gets its Dunning Kruger on" Parts Of Idaho Repeal Mask Mandates Even Though Hospitals Full Of COVID-19 Patients Doctors and nurses in Idaho have asked officials for help, only to be met with reluctance or even open skepticism. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/idah...-covid-19-patients_n_5f92b212c5b61c185f4934f8 Moments after hearing an Idaho hospital was overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and looking at sending people as far away as Seattle for care, members of a regional health department board voted Thursday to repeal a local mask mandate. “Most of our medical surgical beds at Kootenai Health are full,” Panhandle Health District epidemiologist Jeff Lee told board members in the state’s third most populated county. The hospital in Coeur d’Alene reached 99% capacity a day earlier, even after doubling up patients in rooms and buying more hospital beds. Idaho is one of several states where a surge of COVID-19 infections is overwhelming hospitals, likely in part because cooler weather is sending people indoors, U.S. health officials said. “We’re facing staff shortages, and we have a lot of physician fatigue. This has been going on for seven months — we’re tired,” Lee said. He introduced several doctors who testified about the struggle COVID-19 patients face, the burden on hospitals and how masks reduce the spread of the virus. But the board voted 4-3 to end the mask mandate. Board members overseeing the operations of Idaho’s public health districts are appointed by county commissioners and not required to have any medical experience. Board member Walt Kirby said he was giving up on the idea of controlling the spread of coronavirus. “I personally do not care whether anybody wears a mask or not. If they want to be dumb enough to walk around and expose themselves and others, that’s fine with me,” Kirby said. “Nobody’s wearing the damned mask anyway. ... I’m sitting back and watching them catch it and die. Hopefully I’ll live through it.” Another member, Allen Banks, denied COVID-19 exists. “Something’s making these people sick, and I’m pretty sure that it’s not coronavirus, so the question that you should be asking is, ‘What’s making them sick?’” he told the medical professionals who testified. Similar scenes — with doctors and nurses asking officials for help, only to be met with reluctance or even open skepticism — have played out across the conservative state. Idaho is sixth in the nation for new coronavirus cases per capita, with the average number of confirmed cases increasing by more than 55% every day over the past two weeks. Still, Republican Gov. Brad Little has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate or limit crowd sizes beyond requiring social distancing at large events and in businesses, which is seldom enforced. Instead, Little has left it up to local health departments and school districts to make the tough decisions that sometimes come with blowback from the public. In the southern city of Twin Falls, hospital officials told health board members this week that they too were in danger of being overwhelmed, with one out of every four hospitalized patients sick with COVID-19. The region’s hospitals, operated by St. Luke’s Health System, have been forced to postpone non-emergency surgeries and ship patients elsewhere. “I want to be very clear: Punting those decisions is saying we’re willing to put that burden on the shoulders of our frontline staff,” Mike Fenello, St. Luke’s vice president of population health, told board members in asking for a mask mandate Wednesday. “Will you please help those on the front lines? They need you to help.” Instead, board members decided to write a letter to the governor asking him for a statewide mask requirement. The board did restrict indoor gatherings to 50 people, except for grocery stores, schools, religious institutions, polling places and nonprofits. In central Idaho, Adams County commissioners have approved a resolution rescinding all orders, recommendations and restrictions related to COVID-19. “And we resolve that Adams County is open for business and back to normal,” the commissioners wrote. Adams County is very sparsely populated, with about 4,250 residents. So far, it’s been relatively untouched by the virus, with just 32 documented cases. Health leaders in the Boise region and in eastern Idaho have been more willing to take sometimes unpopular steps. Residents in Ada County, Idaho’s most populated, and Valley County, a resort destination with many visitors, are required to wear masks in public, and health officials have issued safety recommendations to schools. Idaho reported 987 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, bringing the total to more than 56,600 since the pandemic began. Infections are thought to be higher because a lack of testing and other factors. At least 553 people have died of the virus, including seven reported Thursday.
U.S. hits highest daily COVID-19 case count since pandemic began https://www.axios.com/us-highest-da...art-7a222f98-af1a-4d0c-b989-a705ba20800a.html The U.S. confirmed at least 83,010 coronavirus cases on Friday, the country's highest daily total since the pandemic started, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. By the numbers: Friday's total surpassed the U.S.'s previous record set on July 17 when 76,842 cases were recorded. The current surge is more widespread than the uptick seen on July 17, when just four states accounted for more than 40,000 cases recorded, according to the Washington Post. Why it matters: Experts are warning that the U.S. is "facing a whole lot of trouble” as the country heads into the winter months. NIAID director Anthony Fauci told MSNBC last week that an uptick in hospitalizations in several states nationwide "is a bad place to be when you’re going into the cooler weather of the fall and the colder weather of the winter." Earlier Friday, Fauci warned such upticks are "will ultimately lead to an increase in deaths." Worth noting: President Trump, without evidence, said during Thursday’s debate that the U.S. is “rounding the turn” in the pandemic and won’t “have a dark winter at all.” Joe Biden responded that “anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America." The big picture: Nearly 130,000 fewer people will die of COVID-19 this winter if 95% of Americans wear face masks in public, according to research published Friday.
I came across a series of YouTube videos by a UK doctor who goes through various studies on Covid in an easy to understand manner. Although most of his videos are about 30 minutes long, he often provides a summary at the beginning before following up with the details. The following is a quick summary of multiple videos concerning reducing your personal risk of Covid-19 infection and reducing its severity if you are unlucky. 1. Take vitamin supplements D2 and zinc. 2. Covid can survive 9 hours on human skin. Alcohol or soap deactivates covid after about 30 seconds. 3. Property used PPE reduces Covid transmission rates. 4. Building ventilation reduces transmissions rates and studies suggest actively ventilating a building even in winter is beneficial. I going to add a number 5 to this list that I have not seen a video on, but did read on NEJM.org concerning basic treatment of Covid sufferers. This involves maintaining one’s electrolyte levels of potassium and sodium. Even drinking Gatorade for this purpose is beneficial, but sodium and potassium based salts are likely best. Attached below is a YouTube video by Dr. John Campbell on Covid-19 and Zinc. He creates new, informative videos on Covid daily: