Op-ed: Rural Americans need more support to battle pandemic

Jennifer Olsen is the executive
director of the Rosalynn Carter
Institute for Caregiving in
Americus, Georgia.

Rural folks take pride in being able to take care of themselves and their neighbors, but the reality of the pandemic is that outside help is needed, Jennifer Olsen writes for Time. Olsen is an epidemiologist living in rural Georgia.

"This trademark self-sufficiency, coupled with an anemic public health infrastructure and limited access to essentials like fresh food and medicine, pose unique threats to rural America as covid-19 marches relentlessly across the U.S.," Olsen writes. "Without novel approaches to reaching rural residents with information on how to stay healthy and a rapid scaling of public health systems, the disease may hit even harder in rural areas than it has in cities."

Another problem is that rural areas have fewer local news and information sources, and many people distrust the news media and hospitals, Olsen writes. That makes it harder for rural residents to get reliable facts on how to protect themselves and their families and find out what's going on.

Olsen recommends actions rural leaders can take, including boosting reliable rural information sources.