Rural Americans die from COVID-19 twice as fast as urban Americans, Springfield hospitals explain why

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Americans in rural areas are dying from COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of people in urban areas, according to a recent study.

According to data from the Rural Policy Research Institute, rural areas now have higher death rates from COVID-19, even though many major US cities were the first places to be affected by the pandemic.

“If you study the history of infectious diseases and pandemics, you see the first waves hitting highly concentrated areas of cities,” said CoxHealth President and CEO Steve Edwards. “And generally thinking that we are safer in rural areas, but almost always the infection spreads due to the nature of the patterns of commuting to and from the big cities. Thus, rural areas are almost always affected earlier, but generally almost as hard. And in this case, maybe more difficult in terms of mortality.

More than a year after the start of the pandemic and several surges and waves later, rural death rates have skyrocketed. Data from the Rural Policy Research Institute shows that one in 434 rural Americans have died from COVID. This number is higher than in urban America where it stands at 1 in 513.

“Missouri has been a hot spot for a while because our immunization rates were low,” said Dr. David Barbe, vice president of primary care for Mercy. “So we know we’re going to see more illnesses and more serious illnesses in areas of the state and country with the lowest vaccination rates.”

Vaccination rates are still below 50% in parts of southwestern Missouri, and in other places they are even below 30%. But experts say the problem doesn’t end there.

“Rural residents have health disparities, before COVID, before this pandemic begins,” said Barbe.

He said older populations and higher rates of chronic disease are two other major factors.

“It is not surprising that among the number of people in a rural area who contract COVID, there may be more who contract severe COVID partly from chronic illness and partly from the age, ”said Barbe.

Another pre-pandemic factor is the lack of access to healthcare.

“If we characterize rural areas, compared to urban areas, we see fewer doctors per 100,000,” Edwards said. “Access to care is a challenge in rural areas, and certainly across the country. We have seen hospital closures in rural areas, making it harder to get care. “

Edwards said recruiting can sometimes be difficult in rural areas. While some rural towns have regional hospitals or medical centers, Barbe said they may still face challenges.

“Even some of these small hospitals, no matter how good, are not able to provide the intensive care that is sometimes needed for people who are really sick,” he said. “It is therefore not surprising that sometimes rural residents delay seeking care until the disease is more advanced.”

At this point, Barbe said they could be moved to a larger hospital in the area. This is exactly why some large hospitals are now treating more rural patients.

“When I look at our data over the past two months, typically about 15-20% of our patients are from Green County, and the majority of the rest are from the area around us, generally a little more rural than the Greene County. ”Said Edwards. “We have maybe 5% that can come from further away. More recently, during Delta, it was about access to hospitals. We have had patients from Colorado, Alabama, and North Carolina, for example, simply because there was no access to care in those states. “

Data from the University of North Carolina shows that 181 rural hospitals have closed since 2005. Another report from 2020 found that more than half of counties in the United States do not have a hospital with care unit beds. intensive.

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