From the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa College of Public Health:
While much of the COVID-19 focus has been on major metropolitan areas, rural areas of the
United States are not free of exposure. As of July 1, 2020, there were a total of 2,652,260
cases and 126,661 deaths identified in counties (data provided by USAFacts.org), with
231,464 cases and 7,073 deaths (about 8.7 percent of cases and 5.6 percent of deaths)
reported in non-metropolitan counties. But as many experts have pointed out, the rate of
growth in cases is very different depending on location. Further, the stress on the health care
delivery system is proportionate – a small number of cases creates stress for low capacity
systems just as a large volume of cases creates stress for larger capacity systems.
