‘We really need help’: Coronavirus overwhelms rural communities

The pandemic sweeping through major U.S. cities is now wreaking havoc on rural communities, with some recording the nation’s most new confirmed cases per capita in the past two weeks. The virus is infecting thousands of often impoverished rural residents every day, swamping struggling health care systems and piling responsibility on government workers who often perform multiple jobs they never signed up for. Officials attribute much of the spread in rural America to outbreaks in workplaces, living facilities and social gatherings.