CLARIFICATION: Dr. Wendy Welch, PhD, MPH, MEd co-authored "COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories: QAnon, 5G, the New World Order and Other Viral Ideas" and is editing the upcoming work "Masks, Misinformation, and Making Do: Appalachian Health-Care Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic." (04:57 p.m MST., Aug. 25, 2022)

COVID has been in and out of the news cycle for over two years now, but that news cycle is driven by the experience in major cities. Coverage of the pandemic in rural America hasn't kept pace.

That disparity has had consequences - both for how rural Americans view the pandemic, and how prepared regional hospitals were for local virus outbreaks.

As America shut down in 2020 during the initial COVID wave in large cities, rural Virginia hospitals followed the same protocols and stopped doing routine procedures, even when local COVID cases were low.

The lack of revenue from routine care led first to layoffs, and eventually to the resumption of procedures. Dr. Wendy Welch - executive director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium - said after that, COVID showed up.

"They started doing procedures about a month before they got hit by the first wave of COVID," said Dr. Welch, "and then they had to stop doing the procedures again. So, it was almost the worst-case scenario - your hospital was full of people, and then suddenly, your hospital was full of COVID."

Dr. Welch said the delays in COVID waves have been consistent over the entire pandemic, and the current outbreak in southwest Virginia is on an upswing.

Rural residents may see major media covering COVID stories in large cities when not much is happening locally - and then, as media attention turns to other topics, a virus surge hits rural areas.

"We're going up where other places are going down," said Dr. Welch, "and we're late, because we are more rural. And this has driven up the ability to misinform people about COVID overall in rural areas, because we don't conform to the major patterns you see on the news."

As thousands of local and regional newspapers have shut down, local news coverage has suffered and more distant media outlets aren't making up the difference.

Dr. Welch has co-authored one book on COVID misinformation, and is editing the upcoming work "Masks, Misinformation, and Making Do: Appalachian Health-Care Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic."

The ongoing incongruity between media attention and COVID reality in rural places has created space for misinformation to take hold, Dr. Welch said, and as the pandemic continues, those ideas have evolved.

"The misinformation is predominantly around the vaccine," said Dr. Welch. "You don't have a lot of people left who are saying there's no such thing as COVID, I mean, for a while there, it was called the 'election virus' - it would go away after the 2020 election. People kind of don't say that anymore."

The state as a whole is still reporting around 2,500 COVID cases a day, but rural areas in southwestern Virginia are reporting the highest numbers per capita.



get more stories like this via email

The number of avian flu cases in dairy cows is holding steady in New Mexico but experts say more testing is needed to prevent its spread and protect humans.

Technically known as H5N1, "bird flu" has been detected in eight Curry County herds, although no deaths were reported. In Texas, a man is known to have become ill with bird flu last month after contact with infected dairy cattle.

Andrew Pekosz, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University, said the transmission to humans is cause for concern.

"Given that dairy farms have a large number of people who come in contact with infected cows, there is an increased chance of the H5N1 virus also directly infecting humans and beginning that process of adapting to replication and spread within humans themselves," Pekosz explained.

He acknowledged the risk to the public is still very low, but argued the U.S. should improve its response to new and emerging infections in order to minimize the chance of another pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this week it will pay dairy farms with confirmed avian flu infections to help contain the virus' spread to people and more cows.

In Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the virus killed a dozen cats who drank raw cow milk.

Meghan Davis, associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University, said due to extensive federal food checks prior to human consumption, she believes it is safe to eat poultry and drink milk, with one exception.

"Raw milk and raw milk products may not undergo the same processes to inactivate the virus," Davis pointed out. "I have very large concerns about the safety of raw milk."

In addition to New Mexico, last month's outbreak affected more than 33 dairy cow herds in seven other states. To date, federal officials only mandate testing for dairy cows moving between states.


get more stories like this via email

Newborns benefit the most from their mother's milk but may not always receive it.

An Indiana nonprofit group works to get breastmilk donations for premature babies. Similar to a blood bank, The Milk Bank accepts breastmilk donations from nursing mothers. Breastmilk is vital to a child's growth and development but what should be a natural occurrence between mother and child has sometimes historically been used as a tool of subordination.

Andrea Freeman, professor at Southwestern Law School, has conducted research on breastfeeding and found it has been a concern among Black families for more than 200 years.

"Black women breastfeed at lower rates than any other women, and always have done," Freeman explained. "This is a story that started during enslavement, and has continued ever since. And there are a lot of health consequences to Black families not having the same choice whether to breastfeed [or] use formula as other families."

Freeman asserted the baby formula industry is powerful in America, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is its biggest purchaser. She stated the industry's perks and lobbying persuade medical professionals to promote using formula instead of encouraging new moms to breastfeed.

One study found infants who are not breastfed have higher chances of pneumonia, childhood obesity, diabetes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and more. But medications or a parent's financial need to return to work could mean opting for baby formula instead.

Jenna Streit, advancement director for The Milk Bank, said it sends 80% of breastmilk donations to the most medically fragile infants in neonatal intensive care units. She pointed out potential donors undergo thorough screening.

"They complete a prescreen online on our website and after that, they complete a more detailed health history," Streit outlined. "They get a blood test done at The Milk Bank's expense. And then, we also reach out to their health care provider to get their consent for donation as well."

She said the organization does experience shortages at certain times of the year. Streit acknowledged more donor milk was available during the pandemic because more moms were at home. According to the nonprofit Women4Change, one in four women returns to work within 14 days after childbirth.

get more stories like this via email

Connecticut is slated to join a national nursing compact.

House Bill 5058 got the General Assembly's approval and awaits Gov. Ned Lamont's signature. The legislation allows Connecticut nurses to get a license permitting them to work in other compact participating states.

Cassandra Esposito, president of the Connecticut Nurses Association, said while it can attract nurses to work in the state, it does not alleviate workforce issues nurses face.

"It has to do with working conditions," Esposito explained. "We look at staffing, we look at workplace violence, we look at ways that nurses do their job, and the things that are making them a little bit harder to do their jobs."

Legislation established better nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and implemented better hospital security. The Connecticut Nurses Association pushed to resolve some issues, ensuring the compact was right for the state.

Lawmakers worked to address impacts to programs like HAVEN with an amendment that also develops a working group supporting compact implementation and addressing any unintended consequences. After three years, the working group will evaluate the efficacy of the compact on Connecticut.

Nationwide workforce shortages are not the only thing straining nurses. Burnout and mental health issues only aggravated by the pandemic are causing people to leave the field. Esposito argued barriers to nurses seeking help must be removed so the workforce thrives.

"Provide them with options," Esposito emphasized. "If your health care workers aren't well, the health care workers themselves suffer. The workforce itself suffers, patients, health care delivery as a whole suffers, so we really need to do more to take care of the mental health of our nurses."

Among respondents to an American Nurses Foundation survey, 64% said they feel stressed because of their job. Stress and other factors led to the national turnover average of nurses being as high as 37%, depending on location and specialty.


get more stories like this via email