— From a larger disease burden to fewer resources, these communities are struggling
Today, as with every third Thursday of November, the U.S. is celebrating National Rural Health Day, honoring the commitment of the health providers who steward the health of the one in five Americans who live in rural communities. At the same time, this occasion should remind us that over the past nearly 3 years, these hard-working professionals have been caring for rural communities in increasingly diminished health. Once a haven from cities devastated in the first months of the pandemic, rural areas have outpaced urban areas in COVID-19 mortality rates. And as the earlier surges of the pandemic recede, a new concern is emerging: a mismatch between the burden of long COVID in rural communities and the resources available to address this complex public health challenge. Read the full article in MedPage Today.