Rural areas in Missouri and Kansas send their sickest patients to cities, straining hospitals

[TexasTowelie]

Registered nurse Pascaline Muhindura has spent the past eight months treating COVID patients at Research Medical Center in Kansas City.

But when she returns home to her small town of Spring Hill, Kansas, she’s often stunned by what she sees, like on a recent stop for carryout food.

“No one in the entire restaurant was wearing a mask,” Muhindura said. “And there’s no social distancing. I had to get out, because I almost had a panic attack. I was like, ‘What is going on with people? Why are we still doing this?’”

Many rural communities across the U.S. have resisted masks and calls for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, but now rural counties are experiencing record-high infection and death rates.

Read more: https://missouriindependent.com/2020/11/25/rural-areas-in-missouri-and-kansas-send-their-sickest-patients-to-cities-straining-hospitals/