Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural America

J. Tom Mueller (), Kathryn McConnell, Paul Berne Burow, Katie Pofahl, Alexis A. Merdjanoff and Justin Farrell
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J. Tom Mueller: Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84321
Kathryn McConnell: Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510
Paul Berne Burow: Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510
Katie Pofahl: Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510
Alexis A. Merdjanoff: New York University School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY 10012
Justin Farrell: Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 1, e2019378118

Abstract: Despite considerable social scientific attention to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urbanized areas, very little research has examined its impact on rural populations. Yet rural communities—which make up tens of millions of people from diverse backgrounds in the United States—are among the nation’s most vulnerable populations and may be less resilient to the effects of such a large-scale exogenous shock. We address this critical knowledge gap with data from a new survey designed to assess the impacts of the pandemic on health-related and economic dimensions of rural well-being in the North American West. Notably, we find that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural populations have been severe, with significant negative impacts on unemployment, overall life satisfaction, mental health, and economic outlook. Further, we find that these impacts have been generally consistent across age, ethnicity, education, and sex. We discuss how these findings constitute the beginning of a much larger interdisciplinary COVID-19 research effort that integrates rural areas and pushes beyond the predominant focus on cities and nation-states.

Keywords: COVID-19; rural America; well-being; health; economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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