Jerome Antone says he is one of the lucky ones.
After becoming ill with COVID-19, Antone was hospitalized only 65 miles away from his small Alabama town. He is the mayor of Georgiana — population 1,700.
“It hit our rural community so rabid,” Antone says. The town’s hospital closed last year. If hospitals in nearby communities don’t have beds available, “you may have to go four or five hours away.”
As COVID-19 continues to spread, an increasing number of rural communities in the U.S. find themselves without their hospital or on the brink of losing already cash-strapped facilities.
WABE
SARAH JANE TRIBBLE • AUG 22, 2020