Nonmetropolitan COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality Rates Surpassed Metropolitan Rates Within the First 24 Weeks of the Pandemic Declaration: United States, March 1-October 18, 2020.
J Rural Health
; 37(2): 272-277, 2021 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1160184
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
This report compares COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates in the nonmetropolitan areas of the United States with the metropolitan areas across three 11-week periods from March 1 to October 18, 2020.METHODS:
County-level COVID-19 case, death, and population counts were downloaded from USAFacts.org. The 2013 NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme was collapsed into two categories called metropolitan (large central, large fringe, medium, and small metropolitans) and nonmetropolitan (micropolitan/noncore). Daily COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates were computed to show temporal trends for each of these two categories. Maps showing the ratio of nonmetropolitan to metropolitan COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates by state identify states with higher rates in nonmetropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas in each of the three 11-week periods.FINDINGS:
In the period between March 1 and October 18, 2020, 13.8% of the 8,085,214 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10.7% of the 217,510 deaths occurred among people residing in nonmetropolitan counties. The nonmetropolitan incidence and mortality trends steadily increased and surpassed those in metropolitan areas, beginning in early August.CONCLUSIONS:
Despite the relatively small size of the US population living in nonmetropolitan areas, these areas have an equal need for testing, health care personnel, and mitigation resources. Having state-specific rural data allow the development of prevention messages that are tailored to the sociocultural context of rural locations.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rural Population
/
Suburban Population
/
Urban Population
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
J Rural Health
Journal subject:
Nursing
/
Public Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jrh.12555
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