COVID-19 and Rural America: How a County of 5 Thousand Tests Majority Positive <\/p>\n
Current Word Count: 348<\/p>\n
Lincoln County, one of Nevada\u2019s most sparse and rural counties per square mile, now leads the state\u2019s in positive coronavirus cases, with a percentage of 62.7 percent. <\/p>\n
The county, which has a total population of 5,200, had only five cases of COVID-19 through the first seven months of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
\tLincoln County is just one of the many rural areas nationwide which are experiencing a surge of positive COVID-19 cases, in the second wave of the pandemic. <\/p>\n
Across the country, most non-metropolitan counties have now recorded at least 100 cases or more per 10,000 people since the pandemic began, more than double than in early September. Nevada as a whole has also seen an increase in almost every country, with an average of 2,429 cases per day.<\/p>\n
The county, which is a total of 10,633.4 square miles, is mainly ranching county. North of Las Vegas, it only contains one hospital which provides healthcare to residents.<\/p>\n
\tNevada’s second least populated county, Eureka County, has a population of 1,966, yet an 11 percent positivity rate. <\/p>\n
As November arrived, Lincoln County held a testing positivity rate of 18.6%, followed by Nye, Washoe and Lyon counties, all above 10%. Clark County, including Las Vegas, had a positivity rate of 9.8%. It\u2019s first covid-realted death occurred in October. Now, the county has a total of 19 deaths. <\/p>\n
\tAccording to the Salt Lake Tribune, Country Emergency Manager Eric Holt claims he was helping create a \u201crecovery plan\u201d to submit a state COVID-19 task force. Holt intends to increase testing and acquiring test kits which can be processed within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
\tNevada governor Steve Sisolak last week had announced a three-week \u201cpause\u201d beginning on Nov. 24, putting heavier restrictions on businesses and stricter mask mandates. However, this mandate came after the 2020 presidential election, which may have been a possible factor in the increase of cases.<\/p>\n
\tPresident of the League of Women Voters Nevada Sondra Cosgrove says that while the state’s August law which mandated all Nevada residents to vote by mail, increased voter turnout, a significant number of people voted in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cA the vote(s) started coming in, when they added in all the ballots that come in without a postmark, it was very easy to see that way more Democrats had voted by mail and way more Republicans had voted in person,\u201d said Sondra.<\/p>\n
NOTES:<\/p>\n
This story is not my original pitch; as I was researching more for my story, I noticed how a low populated such as Lincoln County, Nevada is testing so high for positive COVID-19 cases, and yet are underfunded and under-resourced. I want to expand on this story and interview representatives from Lincoln County’s lone hospital, as well as the county’s Emergency Manager. Since this is a change in story, I have not interviewed them yet. My original pitch was to compare voting by communities hit by coronavirus, and so I interviewed the President of the League of Women Voters Sondra Cosgrove. If there is anything else I can do to better this story than I have already mentioned, please let me know! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COVID-19 and Rural America: How a County of 5 Thousand Tests Majority Positive Current Word Count: 348 Lincoln County, one of Nevada\u2019s most sparse and rural counties per square mile, now leads the state\u2019s in positive coronavirus cases, with a percentage of 62.7 percent. The county, which has a total population of 5,200, had only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n