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New research shows that rural Americans are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of urban Americans. When the pandemic first began in early 2020, it was primarily centered in large metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles. But, as the pandemic progressed, it started hitting rural areas harder.
The study, conducted by the Rural Policy Research Institute's Center for Rural Health Policy, found that since the Delta variant became the dominant strain over the summer, the death rate in nonmetropolitan areas skyrocketed compared to the death rate in metropolitan areas.
The seven-day average of deaths in urban areas in the week ending on July 15 was 0.07 per 100,000 people compared to 0.12 in rural areas. Two months later, in the week ending on September 15, the numbers skyrocketed to 0.85 deaths per 100,000 people living in rural America, while urban areas reported 0.41 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Health experts say the divide is the result of many factors, including an older population and lower vaccination rates in rural areas.
"There is a national disconnect between perception and reality when it comes to Covid in rural America," Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association, said according to NBC News. "We've turned many rural communities into kill boxes. And there's no movement towards addressing what we're seeing in many of these communities, either among the public or among governing officials."