Thread by @asosin

COVID Long-Haulers in Rural America Need More Support
medpagetoday.com/opinion/second…

On the occasion of National Rural Health Day, a new @medpagetoday opinion piece in partnership @KristaCoombs3. 🧵 #powerofrural

Rural regions have outpaced urban areas in deaths and lagged in vaccination. Data on long COVID in rural regions remains scant; however, many of the states with the highest percentage of residents reporting long COVID symptoms are predominantly rural. cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/p…

As the data on long COVID in rural regions comes into focus, we see a mismatch between the burden of long COVID and the resources available to address it. (Image credit: @betsyladyzhets in sciencenews.org/article/long-c…)

Even before the pandemic, 1 in 4 rural residents reported not receiving the healthcare services that they need. Over the last decade, rural regions have lost hospitals, primary care practices and pharmacies. Many rural residents face barriers to care.

shepscenter.unc.edu/programs-proje…

Even in cities with long COVID clinics, patients struggle to secure diagnoses and navigate fragmented and overrun systems of care. These challenges are amplified for rural patients. Many relate long journeys to locate providers familiar with long COVID.

To address these gaps, policymakers, health systems, and funding institutions must invest in initiatives to deliver care and ensure equitable access to research opportunities for rural long COVID patients.

The goal should be both to bring rural patients to specialty care and to build the capacity of local systems to provide care. Efforts to ensure rural equity in long COVID care should be coupled with broader support to address the longstanding challenges confronting rural systems.

Finally, investments in biomedical research should be accompanied by support for other forms of research to understand the lived experience of long COVID patients, inform the design of systems of care, and define priorities for policy and action.

Long COVID researchers continue to push the boundaries of science and clinical practice. Without serious efforts to close geographic divides in access to knowledge, clinical care, and support, we will see rural patients increasingly burdened by the pandemic’s enduring impacts.

It was my privilege to partner with @KristaCoombs3 on this piece. We thank @genevievefri at @medpagetoday for her excellent edits. We also extend our gratitude to @heavyredaction for generously reviewing a draft of this piece.