In an article for Route Fifty, public libraries across the nation have become the front lines for the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. From distributing masks to offering telehealth services, libraries are stepping up for their communities.
Ohio: New Research Determines Another Way to Define Rural, Based on Migration
In a press release from the Ohio State News, researchers have found five new ways to define “rural”.
Urbanizing rural, suburban middle-income destinations, rural low-income destinations, stable rural areas, and stagnating rural areas are the five new definitions, based on migration patterns the researchers found happening in Ohio.
Daily Yonder: Omicron Infections Linger in Rural Areas, Decrease in Urban Areas
In the latest COVID-19 infection update from The Daily Yonder, the Omicron variant has fully spread to rural America and is still causing high infection rates.
As of Jan. 22, the rural death rate from COVID is nine percent higher than the urban rate, a decrease from December surge rates.
PEW: COVID Changed American Desire to Live In Cities, Suburbs Now Preferred, Rural Unchanged
In a new study from Pew Research Center, COVID-19 has dramatically changed the average American’s desire to live and work in the big city. One in five Americans still want to live in a city, a decrease from roughly a quarter in 2018. American’s preference for rural areas, however, remains basically the same.
North Carolina: New Study Finds Three Common Factors in Rural Hospital Closures

In a story for North Carolina Health News, a study completed by the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, has uncovered three factors that are present when a rural hospital is in danger of closing.