Why are COVID-19 cases surging in rural America?

Dr. Uché Blackstock, a Yahoo News medical contributor and the CEO of Advancing Health Equity, explains that a prevalence of underlying health conditions and lower levels of mask-wearing are contributing to new spikes in coronavirus cases in less populated parts of the United States.

Video transcript

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UCHE BLACKSTOCK: I think that we saw the surges early on in metropolitan areas because of the population density and the amount of travel in and out of the city. However, I think the reason why we're seeing it in rural communities, especially at this point in the pandemic, is that it's definitely related to levels of mask wearing in these areas. There's a lower percentage of people that are actually wearing masks, because it's been politicized.

DONALD TRUMP: No way, are you wearing a mask? I've never seen her in a mask. Look at you. She's being very politically correct.

UCHE BLACKSTOCK: I think also there are a lot of underlying medical problems in this population, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, asthma, all risk factors that we know leads to someone doing worse if they're infected with coronavirus.

The public health infrastructure is not as present in the rural areas. And so what we're seeing is a system that really is not equipped to take care of patients in a pandemic. And that's why we're seeing hospitals at or over capacity.

I think that what we're seeing is sort of a natural progression of the virus the virus. The virus, once it's not well contained, it's going to spread. And now it eventually got to the rural areas, because it wasn't well controlled in other parts of the country. And so in rural areas there are more meat packing plants. There are more agricultural type jobs that also are public facing and that would lead someone to being infected.

So I think that, combined with the lower use of wearing masks, combined with the colder weather leading to people to spend more time indoors and family gatherings is leading to this surge that we're seeing now, because the virus literally knows no boundaries. It was going to get there, not if, but when.