A Commentary on Rural‐Urban Disparities in COVID‐19 Testing Rates per 100,000 and Risk Factors

• Published in: The Journal of Rural Health Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 188 - 190
• Main Authors: Souch, Jacob M., Cossman, Jeralynn S.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Age Factors; Blood pressure; Cigarettes; Commentaries; Comorbidity; Coronaviruses; correlation; COVID-19; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 Testing; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diagnostic tests; Disease control; Disease hot spots; Growth rate; Health disparities; Health risks; Health Status Disparities; Healthcare Disparities - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Hypertension; Incubation; Influenza; Medical conditions; Medical screening; Obesity; Pandemics; Prevention; Public health; Reproduction; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Rural areas; Rural communities; Rural health care; Rural Population - statistics & numerical data; SARS-CoV-2; Smoking; States; testing rates; United States - epidemiology; Urban areas; Urban health care; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; Viral diseases; Viruses; United States; United States > US; COVID-19; risk factors; health disparities; correlation; testing rates
• ISSN: 0890-765X; 1748-0361
• DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12450

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a list of risk factors for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Among those at greatest risk in the COVID‐19 pandemic are people aged 65 and older, severely obese people (BMI ≥ 40), those who are immunocompromised, and those who smoke or use e‐cigarettes. People with other underlying medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart conditions are also at greater risk. Given the novel nature of the virus, its median incubation period of 5.1 days, its temporal overlap with seasonal influenza, and its basic reproduction number (R0) of 2.2 (each infected individual is expected to infect 2.2 other individuals), large‐scale testing is of the utmost importance to mitigate its spread. COVID‐19 appeared in late December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and in the United States in January 2020 in the State of Washington. As of this writing, COVID‐19 has spread to nearly all countries, been confirmed in all 50 US states, and been declared a pandemic. Given that the virus is expected to be more infectious than the season flu and its other clinical features, the rate of reproduction is likely higher in large, urban areas due to greater reproductive opportunities afforded by denser populations. Currently, New York City, NY; Seattle, WA; and New Orleans, LA are “hot spots” that are experiencing large case growth rates. However, little attention is being given to more rural areas of the country