Rural West North Dakota has largely avoided the weight of COVID-19 so far

The tight-knit community, located about 36 miles northeast of Dickinson, has few businesses, and Four Corners Café is one that attracts many locals.

Everyone knows everyone in Fairfield, and they usually hang out with people who stay in the same circle, said Jesse Romanyshyn, owner of the cafe. Actions taken locally to prevent COVID-19 include reducing contact with others and social distancing – aspects of life that many rural residents practiced long before the COVID-19 pandemic.

People are smart in the region, he said, and are already taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves from COVID-19.

Slope and Billings counties, with a combined population of around 1,700 people, each reported zero COVID-19 deaths and a total of 83 positive cases in the 11 months that North Dakota has resisted the virus. All other counties in North Dakota have had at least one death from the virus in a state that has recorded more than 1,400 deaths from COVID-19 and experienced one of the nation’s worst epidemics in the fall.

For Romanyshyn, it can be frustrating when small rural towns, like those in Slope and Billings counties, are lumped together with the larger cities of North Dakota – because to him it is obvious that the two are very distinct.

“It’s totally different here,” he says.

Billings and Slope counties, as well as neighboring Golden Valley County in western North Dakota, did not report any active cases as of Friday, February 5, according to the Department of Health. Some rural counties across the country have also reported zero deaths from COVID-19, including Mineral County of Montana and Jones County of South Dakota.

Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in all counties across the United States, with an obscure Hawaii county being the latest, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The number of major outbreaks in rural North Dakota has been limited, said Sherry Adams, executive director of the Southwestern District Health Unit – an organization that oversees the health response of eight counties in western North Dakota .

A epidemic in western North Dakota is very different from those in major cities, Adams said. If 10 people have tested positive, it is considered a “huge” epidemic for the region, she said.

Because the communities are so small, it can easily affect what might be the only gas station or gathering space in the community. In this way, a virus epidemic can be more harmful to rural areas than to metropolitan cities. One small town that is very aware of this is Medora.

Medora, a cowboy-themed town that attracts summer tourists, is almost desolate in February. There are no parked cars lining the city streets, and those who live or work in Medora politely nod at strangers, no doubt wondering what could bring them to town at this time of year.

In a community that thrives largely on tourism, a pandemic would likely drive tourists away. But last summer, travelers stopped in Medora almost as if everything was normal, according to some locals.

Because the summer of 2020 has been a success given the circumstances, business owners are hopeful that this summer will continue to attract people looking for some sort of respite amid the pandemic.

Last summer, Medora held weekly tests to monitor the spread of COVID-19. Even though tourists traveled from across the state and country to the small town, no Medora employee tested positive until September, Adams said.

Not all Medora business owners want COVID-19 in the city, said Gary Ridenhower, the city’s auditor. Everyone knows that if COVID-19 hits town, their income will be lost, he said.

“Together we can achieve our end goal, which is to get through this with our businesses intact and our reputation intact,” Ridenhower said. “If that happens, then it’s a huge victory.”

Since Governor Doug Burgum allowed the statewide mask mandate to expire last month, masks are simply recommended in Medora.

Ridenhower said the way people think about the pandemic in Medora is different from the rest of the state, and people value their freedom and the right to do things as they see fit.

“It’s a different culture, and if more people could understand that it wasn’t about telling people what to do,” said Ridenhower, “it’s about” this is what we do and why we do it and how we “do it together. ‘”

Almost everyone in the city knows someone who has contracted or even died from COVID-19, said Karen Schmeling, a Golden Valley County resident who works in Medora.

“It took a while for people to take this seriously here, but I think a lot of them do, because it happens where we almost all know someone who has died of it,” Schmeling said. .

One of the main differences between the response to COVID-19 in rural and metropolitan areas is that quarantine in rural areas may be more active, with pastoralists being able to work on their property.

The problem, however, is that people may not take the virus as seriously because the communities are so small, Adams said.

“Because of the real rural areas, sometimes people don’t necessarily think it’s in their community,” Adams said. “When that happens, it’s a little harder to encourage testing or to encourage people to continue to mitigate the things that are happening.”

Romanyshyn said he wanted people to understand that rural areas are very different from cities and should not be lumped together in terms of responding to COVID-19.

The Four Corners Café is open again for in-person meals, and he said he hopes his business will continue to grow during this pandemic, which has unfortunately closed many rural businesses.

Readers can contact Forum reporter Michelle Griffith, a member of the Report for America Corps, at [email protected].