COVID-19 May Be Silently Spreading Across Rural Counties, University of Texas Researchers Believe

[LiberalArkie]

Looking at a map of Texas coronavirus cases, there might be a tendency to assume that large swaths of the state, most of them rural and conservative, have mostly been spared from the outbreak.

The big clusters of illness, after all—the ones immediately threatening to overwhelm hospitals and turn grocery shopping into a life or death choice—are in cities like Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Ninety-three Texas counties officially remain, at least per confirmed tests, coronavirus-free, and 28 others have reported only a single case.

That thinking influenced officials like Governor Greg Abbott, who finally issued a stay-at-home order last week after Texas reported 3,266 confirmed cases and the number of cases was increasing by the hundreds across multiple major metropolitan areas.

Abbott had argued that he was protecting the economies and livelihoods of counties without coronavirus cases from shutdown until the data indicated it was necessary. But a new study from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin casts serious doubt on the wisdom of a wait-and-see approach to containment, and underscores how severe the problem could be in rural counties. The study’s authors suggest that U.S. counties with only a few cases or none at all may still have “sustained community transmission” of the virus.

More

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/coronavirus-spread-rural-counties-university-texas-researchers/

[Iliyah]

1. Unfortunately, red states will not give correct % nor numbers . . ..

I guess if they ignore and lie about this, it will magically will go away.

sad.

[Squinch]

2. Gee. Ya think?

[Chainfire]

3. I like the philosophy

Wait until people start dying before you do anything. That should be the encyclopedia definition of conservative crisis management.

[Javaman]

4. abbott the right wing fluffer...

afraid to do anything without consent from the orange asshole.