The Coronavirus has come for the rural.

Ahh, the virus has stretched its tentacles into the rural areas now. This article about Logan in northwest Kansas is a microscopic view of what’s to come. The problem with rural areas is that they generally don’t have large hospitals with enough ICU units and resources. Apparently, over the decades, the rural areas have been depleted of hospitals. On top of that, here’s another issue: metropolitans with larger hospitals are probably running out of capacity to take care of ill people, so they most likely will be unable to take on sick people from the rural areas.

The metropolitan areas were hit hard first and the rural areas probably thought they would not get it since they are not as dense.

But once the virus hits your town, it spreads fast because it is CONTAGIOUS! I don’t think people really grasp how contagious it is, how insidiously quiet it moves amongst the population. And there’s an exponential quality that is hard to grasp. As one writer puts it: it’s not there until it is there (something like that).

Adding to all of this, this town is rural and thus is very Republican. This is just my speculation but I figured that the people in rural areas thought the virus was a hoax so did not take precautions. Even today, according to the article, there are many anti-maskers in Logan. The article tells the story of the progression of the virus and the perception I got from reading it was that the officials did not take it seriously and thus did not mandate masks; they suggested wearing masks and social distancing but did not mandate the masks.

Then the virus hit a nursing home and proceeded to rage through the home.

And apparently there is a division over the masks. They are going through what the larger cities are going through, but I am kind of surprised about that. I figured that once the people in smaller towns realize that the virus is raging through their town, they would pull together and wear masks and social distance. It turns out even the rural have a division over the masks.

“Stanton said the mask issue “is more controversial out here than you would think.”
“We still have people who think this is a hoax,” he said. “And these are highly educated people. Even when you go to any of the stores around here, of course all the employees are wearing masks, and several people are wearing masks, but you almost feel like you’re getting shamed for having a mask on.” ”

“‘Our little town is hurting right now.’ Prayers sought as COVID cluster hits rural KS”, Kansas City Star, Judy L. Thomas and Laura Bauer, July 21, 2020.

I also read an op-ed from a life-long Republican teacher in Oklahoma who is scared to go back and teach in the fall. She originally voted for Trump, but reluctantly. Now after what has transpired during the pandemic and the complicity of the Republican party, she has changed her party denomination to Independent and will vote for Joe Biden in November. However,

““Nevertheless, I am still haunted because, deep down, I fear that with that vote I may have signed my own death warrant.” (Shively notes that she is over 60, lives with autoimmune disorders, and happens to live near the site of a controversial rally President Trump hosted in Tulsa last month.)” ”

“Oklahoma Republican Teacher Announces Support for Biden: “Coronavirus is the End of My Republican Identity””, PoliticusUSA, Alan Wyland, July 23, 2020.

Geez, that’s got to be painful to recognize what you may have done. She lives near Tulsa, so I imagine she is living either in a suburban area or a rural area.

It looks like few Republican voters are coming face to face with the repercussions of their 2016 votes. I hope they vote out all Republican candidates to send a message that Trumpism is unacceptable and to send a message that the Republican party needs to change.

I do wonder though: has she seriously contemplated how she arrived at her choices in 2016? Has she recognized that the Republican party is no longer the same party as it was as… oh maybe back in 2008? Somewhere along the way, the Republican Party, including the voters, have gone off the rails. If she hasn’t deeply thought through how we got here, she’ll make the same mistake in future elections when a savvier conman comes along. She, and others, need to really understand why we have the President and Senators that we have.

In the meantime, we must all do what needs to be done to get to the other side of this crisis: wear masks, wash our hands, and social distance (and if you can, stay home instead of going out).