Covid roundup: Pediatric hospitalizations up; Christian broadcasting group's spokesman fired after pro-vax op-ed

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

The number of children hospitalized for Covid-19 has soared over the summer, especially in the least-vaccinated states, leaving some children's hospitals and intensive-care units stretched thin. Read more here and here.

Stillbirths have doubled during the pandemic in Mississippi, the least-vaccinated state. State officials have recorded 72 stillbirths (spontaneous miscarriages after 20 weeks of gestation) among unvaccinated pregnant people who were infected with the coronavirus. Eight infected pregnant people have also died over the past month. Pregnant and recently pregnant people have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from the coronavirus, studies show. Read more here.

The rate of new coronavirus infections among babies and children under age 4 recently surpassed the rate of new cases among seniors. Experts discuss what steps pregnant people and parents can take to be safe. Read more here.

The spokesperson for the National Religious Broadcasters (an association of more than 1,000 Christian new media professionals) was fired at the end of August after encouraging people to get their coronavirus vaccines in a USA Today op-ed and an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." He was fired for violating the company's policy of staying neutral on vaccination, the CEO said on social media. Read more here.

Crowded jails and prisons drove millions of coronavirus infections, a new study has found. Read more here.

Coronavirus testing, hospital stays and emergency-room visits are about to get much more expensive for many Americans, as major insurers end the temporary waivers that reduced costs. Read more here.

A recent study found that unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than vaccinated people. Many vaccinated people worry about breakthrough infections, but the risk depends on factors such as overall health, where someone lives, and what other risks they take. Vaccinated people who do get infected tend to suffer only mild symptoms, if any. Read more here.

People who have survived a coronavirus infection and then gotten vaccinated have what's called "hybrid immunity," and studies show it's impressively potent—not just against the Delta variant, but possibly future variants as well. Read more here.

Experts say it's especially important to get a flu shot this year: with Covid cases surging across the country, it may be difficult to get treated if you get the flu and it takes a turn for the worse. Also, getting the flu can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to coronavirus infection—and getting both viruses one after the other could be dangerous. Read here for more answers to frequently asked questions.

Fully vaccinated people who get a breakthrough coronavirus infection are about half as likely as unvaccinated people to suffer from long Covid, a study has found. Read more here.

A respiratory therapist describes, in seven stages, how Covid-19 typically progresses among hospitalized patients. Read more here.

Experts recommend some tips for coping with pandemic anxiety this fall and winter. Read more here.

The share of American adults willing to get vaccinated rose 5 percentage points in the last month, according to a recent poll. Read more here.

People who were hospitalized for Covid-19 are twice as likely as usual to develop kidney disease afterward, researchers have found. Read more here.

Quick hits: Docuseries explores why people live in rural areas; Biden drops nominee to head ATF after pushback

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

A seven-part docuseries called "Rural by Choice" tells the story of why people choose to live in rural Minnesota. The first episode will premiere on Sept. 12, with the rest of the episodes premiering each week afterward. Click here for more details, including how to watch.

The White House has withdrawn David Chipman's nomination for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after sustained pushback over his record of gun-control advocacy. Read more here.

As cell-cultured meat gets ever closer to hitting store shelves, the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service is seeking consumer comments on how such products should be labeled. Suggestions will be accepted until Nov. 2. Read more here.

"In summer 2020, a federal court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency showed too much deference to Bayer when it approved the company’s dicamba herbicide. This invalidated the approval. But, weeks later, Bayer began working the EPA again, according to newly obtained emails," Jonathan Hettinger reports for the Midwest Center for Investigation. Read more here.

Mountain Valley Pipeline developers have filed a subpoena seeking to find out the names and phone numbers of the people who run a Facebook group critical of the project. Read more here.

Local food is all the rage, but what makes food local? Read more here.

A recently published study found that single rural residents with heart disease face more hopelessness. Read more here.

A tech business owner and Columbia University professor discusses why rural students need to learn about artificial intelligence in school and what kind of education and training is needed so they can compete with their suburban and urban peers for high-paying tech jobs. Read more here.

Registration is open for a symposium on sustainable ranching practices. The event will be held Oct. 14-15 in Kingsville, Texas, and online. Read more here.

Scientists are trying to control emerald ash borers with tiny parasitic wasps. The strategy will hopefully go better than previous attempts to kill pests by using other natural predators (see: cane toads) because the wasps they're testing can't sting people and only go after the borers. Read more here.

The Rural Health Information Hub has updated its guide to critical-access hospitals to include two new FAQs on 340B eligibility and Rural Emergency Hospitals. There is also updated info on reimbursement, eligibility, funding, legislation, and more. Read more here.

New rural infections, up for 10th week in a row, are 50% higher than in metros and are nearing January's record high

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Aug. 29-Sept. 4
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

"After 10 weeks of growing numbers of Covid-19 infections, the weekly rate of new infections in rural counties is approaching the record rates set in January during the peak of the winter surge," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder.

Rural counties saw 209,259 new coronavirus infections between Aug. 29 to Sept. 4, "about 10 percent below the number of new infections reported during the height of the winter surge eight months ago. Meanwhile, the metropolitan weekly infection rate dropped slightly last week, the first decrease for metropolitan counties in 10 weeks," Murphy and Marema report. "Covid-related deaths increased in both rural and metropolitan counties. Rural counties reported 1,965 Covid-related deaths last week, an increase of more than 10% from two weeks ago. Metropolitan counties reported 6,024 deaths, an increase of 8%."

Click here for an interactive county-level map, regional analysis and charts from the Yonder.

Extreme weather renews calls to protect electrical grid

"With forecasters predicting that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of storms as warmer air gathers up more moisture that will be released as torrential downpours, finding a way to weatherproof utility systems has taken on new urgency," Dalvin Brown reports for The Washington Post. "Ida left more than 1 million power customers without electricity when it roared past New Orleans and through Mississippi last weekend, hurting or toppling more than 22,000 power poles and damaging 26,000 spans of wire, which transmit power between poles."

Burying power lines is the most common way of protecting electrical systems, but it's vulnerable to flooding, difficult to access for repairs, and often cost-prohibitive. A 2003 North Carolina study estimated the move would cost billions, increasing customers' utility bills by 125 percent. Pacific Gas & Electric, whose equipment has caused wildfires, just announced it will spend $20 billion over the next decade to bury 10,000 miles of power lines in wildfire-prone areas of California. 

If burying power lines is too costly, "many power companies are pioneering technology aimed at making their systems resilient in extreme weather, rather than immune," Brown reports. "The idea is it may not be possible to prevent a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds from toppling a 400-foot transmission tower as Ida did in Louisiana, but it may be possible to get the grid back up quickly after such a crippling weather event. As disasters linked to climate change become more common, energy companies have begun implementing these strategies and building extra-sturdy power lines that can withstand winds and flooding."

However, federal funding could help states and localities pay to bury power lines: "The bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Senate passed in early August contained $65 billion for the power grid, with $10 billion to $12 billion specifically for building new transmission lines," Emily Pontecorvo reports for Grist. "The Biden administration also announced last month that it is making nearly $5 billion available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for projects that improve community resilience to extreme weather."

Pace of new rural vaccinations up for fourth week in a row

Vaccination rates as of Sept. 2 compared to the national average, adjusted to account for vaccinations not assigned to specific counties. Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

"The pace of new vaccinations in rural America increased for the fourth consecutive week last week," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. During the week of Aug. 27 through Sept. 2, new vaccination rates in rural and metro counties were 9 percent higher than the week before.

The 318,000 rural residents who completed their vaccinations last week brought the total rural vaccination rate to 39%, compared to metro counties' 50.6% total vaccination rate.

Click here for more charts and analysis from the Yonder, including an interactive map.

Society of Environmental Journalists webinar Sept. 15 will discuss how climate change could affect food and farming

A recent United Nations report warned of increasingly extreme weather in the coming decades. On Wednesday, Sept. 15, the Society of Environmental Journalists will host a free webinar to discuss what that means for farmers and food; all journalists are welcome.

From the website: "Ahead of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, we’re bringing together policymakers, experts, and journalists covering food, farming, and climate to discuss the questions, data, and story ideas that will engage your editors and your audience. This webinar is the second in a series providing journalists with background, tools, and tips on covering the latest in [the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] and scientific research findings."

The webinar begins at 1 p.m. ET and will last an hour. Click here for more information or to register.

Overall hunger slightly down in rural America in 2020, but up in 9 states, and more children went hungry

U.S. households with children by food security status of adults and children in 2020.
Agriculture Department chart; click the image to enlarge it.

Hunger in the U.S. decreased slightly from 2019 to 2020, according to a new report on household food security in the U.S. by the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service. However, more children went hungry, more people used food banks, and overall food insecurity last year was higher than the national average in nine states: Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

Among rural households with income below 130% of the poverty line, 69.4% were food secure in 2020, compared to 66.3% in metro areas. In 2019, 64.8% of such homes were food secure, compared to 67.8% in metro areas.

The percentage of poor households with very low food insecurity fell as well: from 14.7% of rural households in 2019 to 12.9% in 2020. Among poor metropolitan households, the percentage fell from 13.9% to 13.1%. Parents usually bear the brunt of hunger in food insecure households, skipping or cutting back on meals. But "very food insecure households" are characterized by children also going hungry sometimes.

The percentage of rural individuals experiencing food insecurity also fell slightly: from 87.5% in 87.3%. Among metro residents, food insecurity fell from 89.4% to 88.4%.

But, the percentage of very food-insecure individuals rose slightly: in rural areas from 4.3% to 4.4% and in metro areas from 3.6% to 3.7%. That generally reflects children going hungry: In 2020, the USDA found, children 0.8% of households sometimes went hungry, up from 0.6% in 2019.

In 2020, 8.3% of rural households used food banks or emergency kitchens, up from 5.9% in 2019. Meanwhile, 6.4% of metro households used such services, up from 4.2%.

Remembering 9/11 with an editorial written the day after

This week, it seems that the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is being remembered by most newspapers, even weeklies that pay little attention to national affairs. 9/11 was an event that defied geography and made Americans rural and urban think a little more about what they had in common. Many of this week's 9/11 stories and editorials are interviews and reflections about that day, but most of them likely pale in comparison to writings done the day after, when feelings were raw and confused but retain the immediacy that makes us re-appreciate the significance of those events and their aftermath. Here is an editorial written on 9/12/01 and published on 9/13/01 by The Canadian Record of Canadian, Texas.

By Laurie Ezzell Brown    

    THE STACK OF LAST WEEK’S newspapers is abandoned on my living room floor, unread during a long weekend away, and unreadable now as this day dawns. I suppose, eventually, I will throw them away, knowing that the news they report is not just old—it is at best, absurdly imprecise, and at its worst, simply no longer true. The world today is a different place, and we have changed along with it.

    Whether or not we have discovered all of the sharp new edges—the fresh, jagged scar where life has fallen away from us—our own personal geography has changed. The ocean is no longer where it was. The coastlines to the east, and to the west, now join in the center—in the heartland, as we have called it, in other perilous times. The continents have moved closer in the seismic shift that hatred has caused.

    The angle of light has changed, ever so slightly. It shines eerily where it once did not, could not. It shines darkly. Ashen clouds are now part of the skyline. They have formed a layer between us and the rest of the universe, whose existence we are now prone sometimes to doubt.

    Our thoughts change shape and are re-formed constantly as each death is named, each horror filmed, each sorrow spoken. Certainty escapes us, now when we most need it.

    Our words collapse—hollowed out from the intense heat and impact of what we are feeling. Words crumble—they disintegrate, really, all air and ash and no longer what they once were. We have scraps of words, scraps of knowledge, but their true substance is lost. The wind blows them lightly away.
    We are part of the wreckage. We will comb through the debris of what we believed, or thought we knew, hoping that something has survived. And we will celebrate the heart that still beats, the pulse that still races, knowing there is no real measure of the life that was lost.

    From the rubble and ruin, voices cry out in anger and pain. Those are our voices. We are the victims and the witnesses. There is this sudden need to tell these stories, to commit this history to raging memory.

    But we are also the terrorists. We, too, seethe with hatred, like any true believer who has identified an enemy who does not believe as we do, or look like we look, or value those things that we hold most dear, or speak the same language. We, too, tear other’s lives apart with our intolerance and impatience. We, too, act with too little thought, or fail to act, allowing others’ actions to speak for us.

    We, too, believe we can mask our fear and strike out at those we fail to understand. We, too, believe one violent act justifies another, even greater one. We, too, long for vengeance. We, too, are terrorists.

    Today, when we revile the inhumanity of others, we must seek out our own humanity. How much more courage must it take to go into the wreckage, to seek out life, to face death, to cast off fear?

    We watch on television, unable even to comprehend the self-sacrifice of those who put themselves in harm’s way to save others’ lives. In every slumped shoulder we see the exhaustion of rescue workers, who sleep briefly and uneasily at the edge of mayhem before venturing back inside. We hear the voice of the narrator break, feel the clinched fear of the firefighter facing what others reasonably flee.

    These are our heroes—those who seek evidence of life at its outer margins. They are a remarkable affirmation of our dependence on, our responsibility to, each other.

    It is difficult to remember our lives two days ago when, as one writer said, “We lived on the other side of history’s rift.” But we who are able must remember those lives. We should fill our lungs with air, take a deep breath, and learn now the lessons that history will inevitably write, and has written many times before.

    We should commit ourselves to the greatest act of anti-terrorism by accepting the challenge to be ever more mindful of our lives, and how precious they are.

    On September 1, 1939, Hitler’s army invaded Poland. W.H. Auden wrote these words:

    Defenceless under the night

    Our world in stupor lies:

    Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light,

    Flash out wherever the Just

    Exchange their messages:

    May I, composed like them

    Of Eros and of dust,

    Beleaguered by the same

    Negation and despair,

    Show an affirming flame.

Most farming-dependent counties lost population in 2010-20

Percentage of rural counties, by major-economy types, that gained population from 2010 to 2020
Daily Yonder chart; click the image to enlarge it.

An analysis of Census Bureau data show that "rural counties where farming makes up a major part of the local economy were more likely than the rest of rural America to lose population over the past decade," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. "Counties that depend on recreation, on the other hand, were more likely to gain population than rural America overall."

The Yonder's recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found much the same trend over the past 20 years.

Here are some other findings from the Yonder's analysis of Census Bureau data from 2010 to 2020:

• 21% of rural counties with farming economies gained population over the decade.
• Nearly 6 in 10 rural counties with recreation economies gained population.
• About one-third of the nation's 1,976 non-metropolitan counties gained population.
• Only 84 of the 391 rural farming-dependent counties gained population, compared to 135 of 228 recreation counties.
• Rural farming counties lost 2.6% of their combined population, while the combined population of recreation counties grew by 3.5%.
• Nationally, the rural population fell by 0.6%, from 46.3 million to just under 46.1 million.

Read more here from the Yonder, including an interactive county-level map.

More than 30 farm and agribusiness groups urge rural residents to get vaccinated, emphasizing individual choice

More than 30 farm and agribusiness groups have signed an open letter encouraging rural residents to get vaccinated. 

"As we hear heartbreaking accounts of the Covid-19 resurgence depleting resources in rural communities and overwhelming already stressed rural health care systems, we can’t help but feel a deep sense of frustration," the letter says. "After so much progress in fighting the pandemic – the decisions we’ve all made to stay safe, the work to develop a vaccine and a distribution system that could reach every American — we still have so far to go. As a farmer, a food worker or an input provider, we know that you play a critical role in the health of our rural towns and businesses. We know that you take great pride in helping keep your communities vibrant. Unfortunately, the virus is still threatening that vibrancy in many rural areas and indeed, in our nation.

"That’s why, as leaders of agricultural organizations, we are speaking up to support vaccination efforts in our rural communities and in all communities nationwide. To enable informed choices, it is critical that accurate information be heeded — and there has been no shortage of scientific data that supports the effectiveness and necessity of the Covid-19 vaccines. We know that you make science-based decisions every day—whether those decisions are how best to protect your crops or your livestock. Now, however, we need your help in ensuring the health of your families and your communities, which is why we urge you to support vaccinations in your community."

Signers include the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Milk Producers Federation, the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

The letter reminds farmers and ranchers that they regularly administer vaccines to protect their animals, and that approved vaccines are safe and effective. Readers are urged to speak with a doctor or trusted local medical expert to get the facts.

Notably, the letter appeals to farmers' individual choice—a conservative mainstay since the beginning of the pandemic: "You know how powerful an individual decision can be. The decision you make on your farm today will feed your family and consumers around the world. Your choices and your dedication keep families and communities healthy. And just like these farm decisions, the decisions you make now can help ensure the months and years ahead are much brighter as we wrestle COVID-19 to the ground. In farm country, we talk a lot about rolling up our sleeves to get the job done in our fields and pastures. Now it is time that we join together and roll up our sleeves one more time to get this job done."

Roundup: Sturgis rally shows combined natural/vaccine immunity of 75% won't stop outbreaks from large events

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

As cases skyrocketed in August, Florida health officials changed the way they reported death data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline. Has your state or local government changed its pandemic reporting? Read more here.

Here's what we know about the Mu variant, the fifth variant of interest being monitored globally by the World Health Organization. Read more here and here.

The coronavirus is spreading through animals such as deer, cats and dogs. It's unclear how much of a risk such cases are for humans, but hunters can take steps to protect themselves. Read more here.

A huge spike in coronavirus infections followed the recent Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota. That's noteworthy because the population has some of the highest levels of natural immunity in the nation, writes physician and health-policy researcher Ashish K. Jha. About half the state has immunity from previous infections and about half is fully vaccinated; there's some overlap between the two, so about 75% of the state has some immunity. The spike in cases after the rally tells us that 75% herd immunity isn't enough to stave off outbreaks after large community events, he writes. Read more here. 

Rural counties in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin that rely on dairy and animal agriculture have seen comparatively higher unemployment rates during the pandemic, a study says. Read more here.

Northern Idaho hospitals are rationing care because they have so many Covid cases. Read more here.

Hospitals are struggling in Mississippi, the least-vaccinated state, and high-level life support is getting hard to find across the South. See how your state and county stack up on this interactive map.

Why is the Delta surge hitting rural areas harder? Front-line workers "say it’s a perfect storm of personal freedom beliefs, mistrust of the government, a culture that tends toward taking care of things on their own, highly shared misinformation, and, yes, faith," Moira McCarthy reports for Healthline. Read more here.

A nationwide study found that most Americans (84%) are willing to take a coronavirus test. Nearly 52% preferred saliva testing over the nasal test (31.9%). A plurality of respondents (31.7%) preferred home testing, as opposed to 28.9% who preferred drive-through testing or the 23.4% who preferred testing in a hospital. More than a quarter of respondents said they'd be willing to take a coronavirus test using a less-preferred testing method at a less-convenient location if they were financially compensated. But most people who refused a coronavirus test for reasons other than testing method and location weren't persuaded by monetary incentive. Read more here.

Many who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 experience anger and lack of closure. Read more here.

More than one-fifth of Kentucky schools have shuttered because of outbreaks, but they're not learning much at home because the state legislature recently limited distance learning. Read more here.

A Sept. 10 webinar will discuss strategies for nurses, school health professionals, and other health-care professionals to address rural vaccine hesitancy with their patients. Read more here.

The pandemic has forced many rural hospitals to make changes in their workflow; that often creates new vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. A cybersecurity expert discusses the problem, and how rural hospitals can protect themselves from cyberattackers. Read more here.

Farmers should want to curtail the pandemic before it hurts American agricultural supply chains, write two agricultural economists. Read more here.

More first responders are dying from Covid-19, many who refused the vaccine. Read more here.

Rural leaders in Georgia say the pandemic has widened the rural/urban gap in educational attainment, health-care access, and workforce shortages. Read more here.

Weary health-care workers in three rural Appalachian hospitals are seeing more and sicker patients, but many workers still hesitate to get vaccinated. Read more here.

Urban areas of California are taming the Covid-19 surge, but rural areas with low vaccination rates remain in danger. Read more here.

Net farm income predicted to be highest in eight years, with 18% increase in crop and livestock receipts over 2020

Agriculture Department charts adapted by The Rural Blog. F=forecast. Click the image to enlarge it.

Farmers' net income is predicted to hit $113 billion in 2021, the highest figure since 2013, says the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service's newly updated Farm Income Forecast. 

One-third of net farm income will come from government aid, which is smaller than last year's share but still above average. And high commodity prices mean farmers are predicted to bring in 18% more in crop and livestock receipts than in 2020.

You can read the full report here, but below are some of the highlights:

• Net farm income, a broad measure of profits, is estimated to increase by $15.5 billion (19.6%) from 2019 to 2020, and is forecast to increase by another $18.5 billion (19.5%) from 2020 to 2021.
• Net farm income is forecast to be at $113.0 billion in 2021, its highest level since 2013 and 20% above its 2000-2020 average of $93.9 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.
• Net cash farm income, a more precise measure of farm profits that includes government payments, is expected to hit $134.7 billion in 2021, an increase of $19.8 billion (17.2%) over 2020 in inflation-adjusted dollars.
• At $134.7 billion, net cash farm income would reach its highest level since 2014, and would be 19% above its 2000-2020 inflation-adjusted average of $111.4 billion.
• Average net cash farm income per farm business is predicted to increase by $10,000 (11.9%) to $93,700. 
• Average net cash farm income is expected to increase in 2021 for farm businesses in the Heartland, Northern Great Plains, Prairie Gateway, Eastern Uplands, and Mississippi Portal, but expected to decline in the Northern Crescent, Southern Seaboard, Basin and Range, and Fruitful Rim.
• Farms specializing in hogs and corn are predicted to see the largest average net farm income growth in 2021, while farms specializing in dairy, cotton, and specialty crops are expected to see a decline.
• Crop and livestock receipts are expected to hit $421.5 billion, a $64.3 billion (18%) increase over 2020. 
• Total crop receipts are forecast to increase by $37.9 billion, or 19.7%, from 2020.
• Total animal and animal product receipts are forecast to increase by $26.5 billion, or 16.0%, from 2020.
• Higher commodity prices are driving mosts of that trend. Of that increase, $36 billion would come from corn and soybeans, $9.4 billion from hogs, $8.3 billion from cattle, and $7.3 billion from broilers. Corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle, and broilers are all predicted to see double-digit increases in receipts.
• Lower direct government payments and higher production expenses are predicted to partially offset higher cash receipts. 
• Direct government farm payments are expected to fall by $17.7 billion (38.6%) from $45.7 billion in 2020 to $28.0 billion in 2021. Such direct payments increased by $23.2 billion, or 103.5%, from 2019 to 2020.
• Spending in nearly all categories of expense is predicted to rise. Total production expenses, including operator dwelling expenses, are predicted to increase by 26.1 billion (7.3%) to $383.5 billion.
• Farm assets are predicted to increase by $79.0 billion (2.5%) to $3.35 trillion, mostly because of an anticipated rise in real-estate value.
• Overall farm debt is forecast to stay mostly the same from 2020, decreasing $1.0 billion (0.2%) to $443.9 billion. 
• Farm sector equity and assets are predicted to decline by about 1.0% from 2020.

Mandatory telehealth coverage orders expiring in many states, hampering its potential to help in rural areas

Telehealth could help close rural health-care access gaps, and many hoped that its increasing popularity during the pandemic would lay the groundwork for long-term use, “but as the second summer of the pandemic wanes, state emergency orders that mandate coverage of telehealth visits and waive the requirement for out-of-state medical licenses are expiring," Massachusetts journalist and physician Trisha Pasricha reports for The Washington Post. "In their wake, more patients are discovering that telemedicine is no longer an option for them. With a fourth wave of coronavirus cases surging, the safety of in-person visits, especially for immunocompromised patients, remains a concern."

Rural areas have been slower to adopt telehealth, especially in hospitals, because of logistical concerns like already too-low government reimbursements and lack of broadband. But, the technology "held promise for the long term. Its potential to reach individuals in remote communities, nursing homes, and low-income neighborhoods could mitigate barriers to care," Pasricha writes. "The release from certain restrictions enabled patients to hear expert opinions without moving from their dining room tables. In turn, it gave physicians the opportunity to see patients across the country without obtaining licenses in multiple states. Telehealth also allowed providers an informative window into the actual living environments that shaped their patients’ well-being."

Wednesday webinar to interview Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, others on federal funding for rural prosperity

The Biden administration has pledged to support and better fund rural communities, but what does that look like? The Brookings Institution's Center for Sustainable Development will host a free webinar at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, Sept. 8 to discuss the issue, featuring a conversation between Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and New York Times columnists Nicholas Kristof on new Agriculture Department initiatives meant to further rural development. "Then, a panel of government leaders and rural experts will discuss current administration and legislative efforts focused on rural community and economic development, as well as how the federal government can be a trusted partner to rural communities as they seek to realize their visions for prosperity," says the website. 

Audience members may submit questions during the webinar. Click here for more information or to register. 

Census data analysis: 2/3 of rural counties lost population since 2010; share of population that is rural fell to 14%

Map by The Daily Yonder using Census data processed by The Associated Press and provided by the 2020 Census Co-Op. Click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

The nation's rural population dropped by 280,390, or 0.6 percent, from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The slight decrease belies lopsided population trends: two-thirds of the nation's non-metropolitan counties lost population, "but the losses were largely offset by gains in the remaining one-third of rural counties, resulting in an overall decrease in rural population of less than 1 percent from 2010 to 2020," Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder. Coastal regions generally saw population increases while interior areas, notably in the Midwest, Great Plains, and Black Belt, lost population.

"The increase or decrease in population also varied by what type of metropolitan area counties were in. Nonmetropolitan (rural) counties were the only type that lost population overall. But counties in larger metropolitan areas tended to gain a larger percentage than counties in smaller metropolitan areas," Marema reports. "Besides falling in raw numbers during the decade, the proportion of the U.S. population that is rural also fell because the overall size of the U.S. population increased. As of 2020, 13.9% of the U.S. population lives in a rural or nonmetropolitan county. That’s down from 15% in 2010."

Click here for more from the Yonder, including charts, regional analysis, and an interactive county-level map.

Interested in making maple syrup? Online workshop series starting Sept. 14 will cover the basics

Photo by Steve Patton, UK
Agricultural Communications

Got maple trees on your property? Like to make some syrup from their sap? Whether you're looking to sell or just make some for your own pantry, the University of Kentucky's upcoming webinar series will cover the basics. UK's College of Agriculture, Food and Environment is partnering with the Kentucky Maple Syrup Association and the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development to host four online workshops on Sept. 14, Oct. 14, Oct. 23, and Nov. 6 at various times. 

The workshops are the first part of an effort funded by three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to grow and expand the maple syrup industry in Kentucky, but the online workshops are open to residents of all states, Extension Forester Billy Thomas says. Click here for more information or to register. 

How a Montana town silenced a Neo-Nazi hate campaign

Whitefish, Montana
Wikipedia map

When notorious white nationalist Richard B. Spencer moved to Whitefish, Montana, the town fought back. "Residents who joined with state officials, human rights groups and synagogues say their bipartisan counteroffensive could hold lessons for others in an era of disinformation and intimidation, and in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot," Elizabeth Williamson reports for The New York Times. "Leaders in Whitefish say Mr. Spencer, who once ran his National Policy Institute from his mother’s $3 million summer house here, is now an outcast in this resort town in the Rocky Mountains, unable to get a table at many of its restaurants. His organization has dissolved. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him, and he is facing trial next month in Charlottesville, Va., over his role in the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march there, but says he cannot afford a lawyer."

Spencer's rejection in Whitefish is "no accident," Williamson reports, as the town is a "mostly liberal, affluent community" in a county that voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. 

Shortly afterward, Andrew Anglin, founder of the Neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, shared personal information and social media accounts of Gersh and her family, and encouraged followers to "take action" to defend Mrs. Spencer. "A post in which Mr. Anglin encouraged his followers to “stop by and tell her in person what you think of her actions” was the first of some 30 articles he published targeting the Gersh family and the Jewish community in Whitefish, according to a lawsuit Ms. Gersh filed in 2017 against Mr. Anglin in U.S. District Court in Montana," Williamson reports. "Ms. Gersh received hundreds of text messages, emails and Christmas cards threatening her. Her voice mail filled up several times a day. Hateful comments about Ms. Gersh appeared on real estate websites. Homeowners were afraid to list with her." Other local Jewish leaders and residents were threatened as well, and Anglin announced a march on Whitefish to be held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Then-Governor Steve Bullock, the attorney general and a congressional delegation wrote a bipartisan open letter repudiating the "ignorance, hatred and threats of violence." Meanwhile, Mayor John Muhlfeld "said that the town had not refused Mr. Anglin a special event permit but that Mr. Anglin had not met the town’s conditions, including a prohibition on firearms," Williamson reports.

As the march neared, police and federal authorities prepared for possible violence and nonprofits such as the Southern Poverty Law Center advised residents on what to do. Accordingly, Jewish residents kept a low profile and took steps to increase safety, while volunteers distributed thousands of paper menorahs; Gersh said "every window in Whitefish" had one. Locals also held an anti-hate rally that drew 600 attendees. And on the eve of the march, Rabbi Francine Green Roston of the Glacier Jewish Community/B’nai Shalom held a chicken and matzo ball soup get-together for 350 at the middle school as an expression of appreciation and unity.

The day of the planned march, "not a single neo-Nazi turned up," Williamson reports. 

Roston, who now lectures groups on how to ward off similar hate campaigns, told Williamson: "The best way to respond to hate and cyberterrorism in your community is through solidarity ... Another big principle is to take threats seriously, and prepare for the worst."

75.7 acres in Iowa sells for $22,600 an acre to an investor who will rent it to a farmer; that's becoming more common

Grundy County, Iowa (Wikipedia map)

The market outlook for high-quality farmland, already hot, got a little hotter last week when 75.7 acres in Iowa sold for just over $1.7 million, a state-record $22,600 an acre.

The land is in Grundy County, where land sales are "extremely competitive," competitive, Cody Skinner of Iowa Land Co. told Bill Spiegel of Successful Farming. The tract has high-quality soil, a low erosion factor and has a corn suitability rating of 90.6 on a scale of 100. And it has a wind-energy tower with an annual easement payment: $21,122 next year and "increasing 2% per year through 2044, when the final payment is $36,363.01," Speigel reports. A 25-year extension is possible.

The land was sold at auction for a living trust, and Skinner said he did the usual promotion, but "never before has Iowa Land Co. received so much interest in a farm," Spiegel reports. “We were blown away,” Skinner told him. “We had interest from Connecticut to California, and bidders from a dozen states.” Thirty bidders registered, and three or four local farmers bid until the price reached $20,000 per acre. "Thereafter another three to four non-farmers resumed bidding until the gavel dropped at $22,600," Spiegel reports. "A farmer-investor from the Cedar Rapids area won the bid, using a 1031 exchange, a tax device that delays recognition of capital gains through exchanges of certain types of property. "He plans to rent the farm to a local farmer, Skinner says."

"More potential sellers are calling Iowa Land Co. to test the market," Spiegel reports. "Pent-up demand and strong commodity prices are fueling demand by farmers; meanwhile, more investors are also interested in buying farmland." Skinner said, “In the last year we’ve seen more investors becoming buyers than anytime before. People are pulling money out of the stock market to invest in something tangible like farmland. Where we used to see 80% local buyers, anymore it’s 50/50, farmers and investors.”

Study: W.Va. mining cuts aquatic species biodiversity by 40%, with some loss even in streams meeting EPA rules

Map from study, adapted by The Rural Blog; click on it to enlarge.

Appalachian streams are some of the most biologically diverse in the world, home to many species that can't be found anywhere else on Earth (like the hellbender salamander, for example). But surface mining threatens that diversity as downstream pollution hurts or destroys many species' habitats, according to a newly published study in the journal Ecological Applications.

A Duke University team led by Marie Simonin of France's National Research Institute for Agriculture examined 93 streams in southern West Virginia and found a clear link between coal mining and species loss: streams in heavily mined watersheds have 40 percent fewer species than streams with cleaner water. That includes fish, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, algae, fungi, bacteria, and more. They were able to tell what species had vanished by collecting and comparing DNA from scraps left in the streams such as scales, skin and excrement.

Pollution threatens the hellbender.
 (Fish and Wildlife Service photo)

The study is significant not just for its findings but for its breadth; other studies have noted the link between surface mining and species loss, but this study looked at all species in the same streams at the same time.

The study highlighted another concern: Pollutants hurt aquatic species at much lower concentrations than previously known, since the team found significant diversity loss in streams whose pollution was still well within Environmental Protection Agency disturbance standards. Duke biology professor Emily Bernhardt, the senior author of the paper, summed it up in a recent interview about the study: "By the time you get to the EPA’s reference point, you've already lost most of the species you're going to lose."

Sackler family wins immunity from opioid lawsuits, but must give up Purdue Pharma ownership, pay $4.3 billion

"Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication," Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio reports for NPR. "The deal grants 'releases' from liability for harm caused by OxyContin and other opioids to the Sacklers, hundreds of their associates, as well as their remaining empire of companies and trusts. In return, they have agreed to pay roughly $4.3 billion, while also forfeiting ownership of Purdue Pharma."

The Sacklers, who have earned at least $10 billion from opioid sales, will remain one of the wealthiest families in the world. They have admitted no wrongdoing and refused to explicitly apologize in court for their role leading the company, Mann reports: "The settlement has incensed opioid activists and many legal scholars, who describe the outcome as a miscarriage of justice." Several states have said they intend to appeal the ruling of U.S. District Judge Robert Drain.

Drain called the settlement, which he approved Wednesday in White Plains, N.Y., "a bitter result," and said he expected a larger settlement since he believes that "at least some of the Sackler parties have liability" for opioid Oxycontin claims, Mann reports. "The costs of further delay, he said, and the benefits of an agreement he described as 'remarkable' in its ability to help abate the epidemic, tilted toward approval," Jan Hoffman of The New York Times reports.

The Sacklers "are receiving protections that are typically given to companies that emerge from bankruptcy, but not necessarily to owners who, like the Sacklers, do not themselves file for bankruptcy," Hoffman reports, noting that the family will remain one of the richest in the nation. "While the settlement serves as a benchmark in the nationwide opioid litigation aimed at covering governments’ costs and compensating families, it also means that a full accounting of Purdue’s role in the epidemic will never unfold in open court. Purdue pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for drastically downplaying OxyContin’s addictive properties and, years later, for soliciting high-volume prescribers."

Nearly 500,000 Americans have died from opioid overdose in the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Quick hits: Meatpackers rely more on special-visa workers; pastor's book calls for different thinking about rural churches

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

A pastor's new book challenges readers to change the way they think about rural churches: "Look at the assets of rural churches and encourage congregations to build on them on their own terms, not on the terms imposed by others." Read more here.

Prison populations have long been used to artificially bump up rural population counts (which increases their political power and sometimes brings in more state and federal spending). Before the 2020 census, only two states (Maryland and New York) outlawed the practice. But now seven other states have joined them. That could have big implications as state legislatures begin redrawing political maps. Read more here.

A new fall foliage prediction map will help you plan your leaf-peeping. Read more here.

"It's been a slow death": Guests on CBS's "60 Minutes" describe cutting ties with parents and siblings over QAnon conspiracy theories. Read more here.

Meatpacking plants have long relied on immigrant labor. Now, some are turning to foreign workers with visas. Read more here.

From his porch in rural Missouri, a Congressional aide is helping interpreters escape Afghanistan. Read more here.

The Agriculture Department is giving up to $200 million in pandemic assistance to timber harvesters and haulers. Read more here.

New rural infections were 1/3 higher than urban last week

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, Aug. 22-28
Daily Yonder map; click the map to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

The new infection rate in rural counties was one-third higher than in urban counties last week, Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. The last time the rural rate was that much higher was in August 2020 (and remained that way for nearly the rest of the year). 

Rural counties saw 189,183 new infections over the week of Aug. 22-28, a 17 percent increase from the week before and the highest number since early January, the Yonder reports. Also last week: the 1,779 rural Americans who died from Covid-19 last week (an 18% increase over the week before) pushed the rural death toll over 100,000.

Click here for an interactive county-level map, regional analysis and charts from the Yonder.

Rural hospitals can't find enough nurses to fight Covid-19

Rural hospitals and clinics have had a hard time recruiting and keeping enough skilled workers for decades, but the pandemic has made it worse.

"Across the country, thousands of hospitals are overwhelmed with critically ill patients, prompting many overburdened nurses to change careers or retire early. The shortages are particularly dire in rural areas, rural health experts say, because of the aging workforce and population, smaller salaries and intense workload," Aallyah Wright reports for Stateline. "Rural health care leaders have begun offering sign-on bonuses and benefit packages to combat shortages during the pandemic. But they’ve found that even those perks aren’t enough to keep or attract skilled health professionals. Instead, they say, the focus needs to shift to boosting nursing school enrollment and getting workers into the field faster."

The problem is so dire that Nebraska hospitals are recruiting unvaccinated nurses, and one Kentucky hospital is so short-staffed that administrators are considering allowing infected but asymptomatic nurses to work in Covid-19 units. 

The pandemic is hitting rural areas—and their hospitals—especially hard because of lower vaccination rates. Some of that stems from lack of vaccine access, but mostly it's a function of vaccine resistance, Jill McKeon reports for PatientEngagementHIT.

Roundup: Study shows masks work; county map shows senior vax rate; Covid worse for unvaxed pregnant women

Screenshot of New York Times map shows full-vaccination rates by county; click image to enlarge.

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

Many senior citizens still aren't vaccinated, making the Delta variant surge deadlier. Though access is a problem for some seniors, many in rural areas are more likely to refuse the shots. The story has a county-level map showing the percentage of unvaccinated seniors in your county. Read more here.

A massive, randomized study confirmed that widespread use of surgical masks in a community limits the spread of the coronavirus. The study, which tracked more than 340,000 adults in rural Bangladesh, is by far the largest randomized study on the subject. Read more here.

Increasing vaccine mandates have spurred a cottage industry in fake vaccination cards. But selling or buying fake cards is a federal crime, this article warns, and some have already been charged. But local judges have a lot of latitude. Read more here.

Correctional officers are spreading the virus in prisons, especially those located near communities with high infection rates. Read more here.

Medical experts stress the importance of vaccination for pregnant women. Unvaccinated pregnant women who are infected with the coronavirus are 15 times more likely to die from Covid-19, 14 times more likely to get intubated, and 22 times more likely to have a preterm birth than vaccinated individuals. Read more here.

More than 220 children's hospitals nationwide are begging the Biden administration for help, saying that a surge of young Covid-19 patients has them at or near capacity, and they expect to see even more patients. Read more here.

The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is associated with an increased risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. But the side effect is rare and usually mild, and people are more likely to suffer from it if they get infected with the coronavirus, a new study found. Read more here.

Oklahoma nurses and doctors beg people to get vaccinated to help ease hospital overcrowding. "I have zipped up too many body bags," said one. Read more here.

A regenerative tissue engineer and a biomedical engineer give a short TED Talk explaining how the mRNA coronavirus vaccines were created so quickly. Watch the video here.

In a recent column, agricultural economists Harwood D. Schaffer and Daryll E. Ray give their perspective on rural vaccine resistance. The decision whether to vaccinate is not strictly a personal one, they write, since unvaccinated people are more likely to spread it to others. As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said, they write, "The right to swing my arms in any direction ends where your nose begins." Read more here.

About 40% of Americans say they get coronavirus vax info from social media, but not many believe it's the best source

Pew Research Center chart; click on it to enlarge.

Social media is a notorious source of misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines. That adds significance to a new Pew Research Center survey showing that nearly 40 percent of Americans say social media is an important source for coronavirus vaccine news. Pew conducted the survey from July 26 to Aug. 8. Here's some of what they found:

• Women and younger Americans are more likely than men and older Americans to say they get coronavirus vaccine news and information on social media; younger Americans and women are more likely to be on social media in the first place.
• About half of the respondents said they get news and information about vaccines from social media: 30% said they get "some" and 18% said they get "a lot."
• The other 51% say they've gotten little or no vaccine news or information from social media.
• Though half the respondents get at least some vaccine news from social media, only a few (6%) believe it's the best way.
• Another 33% said it's an important way, 29% said it's not an important way, and 31% said they don't get any vaccine news on social media.
• Respondents who say social media is an important source of vaccine information are more likely to regularly rely on social media for news in general.
• Only 4% of respondents said they regularly get general news from Snapchat, and 11% said the same about Instagram. But 85% of people who regularly get news from those platforms say they get a lot or some information about the vaccine there too.
• 31% of respondents said they regularly get general news from Facebook, and 82% of that group say they're getting vaccine news there too.

Extreme weather events have left some towns in eastern North Carolina struggling, and fearing for their futures

Fair Bluff, N.C., can't afford to buy and demolish such ruined buildings.
(Photo by Mike Belleme, The New York Times)

"Climate shocks are pushing small rural communities . . . many of which were already struggling economically, to the brink of insolvency," Christopher Flavelle reports for The New York Times. Rather than bouncing back, places hit repeatedly by hurricanes, floods and wildfires are unraveling: residents and employers leave, the tax base shrinks and it becomes even harder to fund basic services. That downward spiral now threatens low-income communities in the path this week of Hurricane Ida and those hit by the recent flooding in Tennessee — hamlets regularly pummeled by storms that are growing more frequent and destructive because of climate change." (Not all are hamlets.)

Downtown Fair Bluff (Photo by The News Reporter, Whiteville)

Flavelle's object example is Fair Bluff, N.C.: "The town’s only factory, which made vinyl products, closed a few months after Matthew. The population of around 1,000 fell by about half. The federal government tried to help, buying the homes of people who wanted to leave, but those buyouts meant even less property tax, tightening the fiscal noose. Al Leonard, the town manager, who is responsible for its recovery, said his own job may have to be eliminated, and maybe the police department, too."

The city has received money from several sources for recovery, but it has a bigger plan, Flavelle reports: "Buy the ruined stores downtown, tear them down, clean up the land and turn it into a park that can flood safely. Build a new downtown a few blocks east on land is less likely to flood. Rebuild, revive and regain what has been lost. But the town can’t afford any of it." The price tag: $10 million. Leonard told him, “Fair Bluff’s recovery will go as far as someone else’s money will take us.”

Such money is usually federal, and the federal government lacks a coordinated approach, Flavelle reports: "In 2016, the Obama administration set up a working group among agencies that handle disaster policy and recovery, including FEMA, HUD and the Army Corps of Engineers, asking them to devise a coordinated approach for what experts call managed retreat — relocating entire communities from areas that can’t be protected. But that work stopped under President Donald J. Trump and hasn’t resumed. Instead, agencies continue to pursue their own programs, even if they conflict with each other." As examples, he cites the troubles of nearby towns, Princeville and Seven Springs, and reports the sad calculus: "With each flood, more people leave. The tax base shrinks. Those who stay lose the will to improve their properties, knowing that they’ll likely flood again."

States and localities may have to give back emergency rent aid if they don't start distributing more of it; only 11% so far

Estimated percentage of renting households in arrears, June 23 to July 5, based on Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. Surgo Ventures map; click the image to enlarge, or click here for an interactive version.

Nearly 6.2 million households owed $16.8 billion in back rent in August, according to The National Equity Atlas. Congress authorized $46.5 billion in emergency pandemic rent aid, but state and local programs have only distributed 11 percent of that to renters facing eviction. If they don't start disbursing more aid soon, some agencies may have to give money to areas doing a better job.

"The Biden administration put grantees on notice through new guidance issued Wednesday that the Treasury Department is prepared to claw back unspent funds and reallocate the money to other jurisdictions," Andrea Noble reports for Route Fifty. "If grantees, including state and local governments, have not dispersed their first round of allocated funds by Sept. 30, the department is required to 'recapture excess funds that have not been obligated … and reallocate those resources to high-performing jurisdictions that have obligated at least 65% of their original allocation.'"

Half the emergency assistance was distributed to state and local governments in December and the second half in March. "Only about $5 billion of the first tranche of funding has been spent, according to Treasury Department data detailing payments through the end of July," Noble reports. "The pace at which money is being distributed to renters hasn’t drastically improved over the summer, even as the nationwide eviction moratorium expired and was replaced by a new moratorium that covers only some jurisdictions with high rates of coronavirus transmission."

The Treasury's new guidance included recommendations for how to speed up aid distribution. That includes streamline the application process by dropping documentation requirements that have significantly slowed things down. Applicants can self-attest to some things such as financial hardship, risk of homelessness or household income when documentation isn't available, the Treasury recommended. "The guidance also indicates that state and local grant programs can provide advance bulk rental assistance payments to large landlords and utility providers based on an estimated amount of eligible debt," Noble reports. "In addition, the guidance allows state and local programs to partner with nonprofits to provide assistance to renter households at risk of eviction while their applications are being processed."

Sources: Trump EPA quashed report linking leukemia and formaldehyde, used in farming, factories and buildings

In 2017 the Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump suppressed a report that, using updated calculations, showed formaldehyde causes myeloid leukemia, according to several sources. The Integrated Risk Information System division's report could have big repercussions on public health if the Biden administration allows it to be finalized, Sharon Lerner reports for The Intercept.

Millions of workers each year are exposed to formaldehyde through construction, firefighting, agriculture, manufacturing and more. Because the chemical is so commonly used, a "wide range" of business lobbies have pressured EPA not to finalize the assessment, Lerner reports. EPA refused to release the report following a request under the Freedom of Information Act, saying in court that the assessment wasn't complete or ready to be shared publicly. But that's not true, former EPA officials told The Intercept. The report was ready to go in early 2018, but former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler and others would not allow it to be published, they said.

Wheeler's office exhibited an unusual amount of interest in the report while the researchers were working on it, and shared it with the American Chemistry Council, the sources said. The trade group then sought to preemptively discredit the research before it had been published.

The EPA regulates formaldehyde using outdated calculations. The assessment with new calculations "concludes that 1 microgram of formaldehyde in a cubic meter of air increases the number of myeloid leukemia cases by roughly 3.5 in 100,000 people, more than three times the cancer risk in the assessment now in use. If the nasopharyngeal cancer and myeloid leukemia risks are combined, the cancer risk could be 4.5 times higher than the current value," Lerner reports. "Even using the much lower, outdated cancer risk number set in 1991, formaldehyde is already the greatest source of nationwide cancer risk from industrial air pollutants, estimated to cause roughly 18 of the 32 cancers in every 1 million people in the U.S. that are caused by toxic pollutants in the air, according to the EPA’s own data. If the risk values are increased by a factor of four or more, the reported cancer risk from formaldehyde will go up accordingly, revealing previously unrecognized cancer hot spots around the country."

National parks put up 'selfie stands' to help manage crowds wanting to get that perfect photograph of their visit

Selfie stand in Iowa's Black Hawk County

Parks are so overrun this summer that crowd control has become a major issue for the National Park Service. Some parks "are using counterintuitive tricks like encouraging selfies in one place to prevent them in another, and they are rolling out algorithms and autonomous vehicles to manage the throngs of recreation-seekers," Katharine Gammon of The Guardian reports. Park officials "are also acknowledging a hard truth: perhaps there simply isn’t enough space at America’s most iconic attractions for everyone who wants to visit them."

One major challenge is "the many visitors all aiming to get the perfect photograph, Gammon reports. "At popular spots in Yosemite and near the Grand Canyon, some have even fallen to their deaths in the process. . . . Enter the selfie station: a humble wooden stand in front of a stunning vista, ready to hold a camera for a safe and easy photo experience. They are part of an effort to corral people’s natural desire to take photos and to promote less-well-known areas."

State parks are doing likewise. "Tom Hazelton, who leads Iowa’s County Conservation System, has overseen the installation of more than a hundred selfie stations in his state" in the last three years, Gammon reports. “They are getting used and they are low maintenance and easy to build; the signs are $30 and the wood is another $60, and there you go.”

USDA nutrition spending hit all-time high in fiscal 2020; hunger at pandemic low; webinar on food insecurity Sept. 8

Here's the latest on hunger and nutrition assistance programs:

The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will host a one-hour webinar at 1 p.m. ET Sept. 8 to discuss USDA's annual report on food insecurity in the U.S., which will come out that day. The report covers changes in food insecurity from previous years, the prevalence of food insecurity by household demographics, and food insecurity among children. ERS social-science analyst Alisha Coleman-Jensen will host. Click here for more information or to register.

"After cresting at 13.7 percent at the end of 2020, the U.S. hunger rate is now the lowest, 7.8 percent, since the pandemic began in early 2020. Analysts say the expanded child tax credit, coronavirus relief programs and rebound from recession all helped," Chuck Abbott reports for The Food & Environment Reporting Network. That's according to a data analysis of the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Spending on USDA's domestic food and nutrition assistance programs in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2020, reached an all-time high of $122.1 billion, 32 percent higher than FY 2019. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which rural residents use disproportionately, accounted for 65% of the spending. About 40 million Americans participated in SNAP each month, up 12%. Read more here.

Rural hospitals need telehealth most but often don't have it

Rural hospitals are the most likely to benefit from telemedicine, especially for emergency patients, but they're the least likely to have it because of government reimbursement barriers and low patient volume, according to a study report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers used telestroke care as a case study. Stroke patients must receive treatment very quickly, and often there is not enough time to transfer them to a larger hospital that has stroke specialists. Through telestroke, small, rural hospitals can initiate care for such patients, but they are less likely to have telehealth than larger, suburban hospitals, and the inequity may contribute to worse conditions and more deaths among rural patients.

The cost of implementing telehealth is a significant barrier for rural hospitals; it can cost from $17,000 to $50,000. Plus, hospitals must pay an average of $60,000 for annual subscription fees, and $3,000 to $8,000 per year in maintenance and connectivity expenses. And many such hospitals don't get enough patients who need telehealth to cover the costs of the service. And dealing with the reimbursements—which are often insufficient—is a bureaucratic headache many hospitals would rather avoid. 

The researchers suggest some changes that could help increase telehealth adoption in rural emergency departments. For instance, EDs pay for telemedicine, but the reimbursement typically goes to the remote specialist who treats the patient via telehealth. EDs can bill consultants for the hospital's telehealth subscription expenses, but it's such a cumbersome process that most EDs just eat the cost and write it off as overhead. Instead, the paper suggests, payers could reimburse the hospital directly for telehealth-related costs.

Federal judge tosses out Trump administration's definition of 'waters of the United States' supported by farmers

"A federal judge Monday threw out a major Trump administration rule that scaled back federal protections for streams, marshes and wetlands across the United States, reversing one of the previous administration’s most significant environmental rollbacks,' Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis report for The Washington Post. "District Judge Rosemary Márquez wrote that Trump officials committed serious errors while writing the regulation, finalized last year, and that leaving it in place could lead to 'serious environmental harm'."

In 2015, President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency defined intermittent and seasonal waterways as "waters of the United States" that are subject to regulation under the 1972 Clean Water Act. Business and farming groups said the rule was too vague and restrictive and states were better positioned to regulate their waters. But the EPA's scientific advisory board (most of whom were handpicked by the Trump administration) said the administration's change conflicted with established science and the objectives of the law.

"Márquez, a Barack Obama appointee, noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees permits to dredge and fill waterways under federal jurisdiction, determined that three-quarters of the water bodies it reviewed over a nearly 10-month period did not qualify for federal protection under the new rule," Grandoni and Dennis report. "Federal agencies identified 333 projects that would have required a review under the Obama rule, she added, but did not merit one under the Trump standards."

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said the organization is "extremely disappointed," and the ruling "casts uncertainty over farmers and ranchers across the country and threatens the progress they’ve made to responsibly manage water and natural resources."