scholarly journals The synchronicity of COVID-19 disparities: Statewide epidemiologic trends in SARS-CoV-2 morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality among racial minorities and in rural America

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0255063
Author(s):  
Brian E. Dixon ◽  
Shaun J. Grannis ◽  
Lauren R. Lembcke ◽  
Nimish Valvi ◽  
Anna R. Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Over Time

Background Early studies on COVID-19 identified unequal patterns in hospitalization and mortality in urban environments for racial and ethnic minorities. These studies were primarily single center observational studies conducted within the first few weeks or months of the pandemic. We sought to examine trends in COVID-19 morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality over time for minority and rural populations, especially during the U.S. fall surge. Methods Data were extracted from a statewide cohort of all adult residents in Indiana tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection between March 1 and December 31, 2020, linked to electronic health records. Primary measures were per capita rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. Age adjusted rates were calculated for multiple time periods corresponding to public health mitigation efforts. Comparisons across time within groups were compared using ANOVA. Results Morbidity and mortality increased over time with notable differences among sub-populations. Initially, hospitalization rates among racial minorities were 3–4 times higher than whites, and mortality rates among urban residents were twice those of rural residents. By fall 2020, hospitalization and mortality rates in rural areas surpassed those of urban areas, and gaps between black/brown and white populations narrowed. Changes across time among demographic groups was significant for morbidity and hospitalization. Cumulative morbidity and mortality were highest among minority groups and in rural communities. Conclusions The synchronicity of disparities in COVID-19 by race and geography suggests that health officials should explicitly measure disparities and adjust mitigation as well as vaccination strategies to protect those sub-populations with greater disease burden.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 health equity twindemic: Statewide epidemiologic trends of SARS-CoV-2 outcomes among racial minorities and in rural America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Dixon ◽  
Shaun J. Grannis ◽  
Lauren Lembcke ◽  
Anna Roberts ◽  
Peter J. Embi
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Over Time

AbstractBackgroundEarly studies on COVID-19 identified unequal patterns in hospitalization and mortality in urban environments for racial and ethnic minorities. These studies were primarily single center observational studies conducted within the first few weeks or months of the pandemic. We sought to examine trends in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality over time for minority and rural populations, especially during the U.S. fall surge.MethodsStatewide cohort of all adult residents in Indiana tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection between March 1 and December 31, 2020, linked to electronic health records. Primary measures were per capita rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. Age adjusted rates were calculated for multiple time periods corresponding to public health mitigation efforts.ResultsMorbidity and mortality increased over time with notable differences among sub-populations. Initially, per capita hospitalizations among racial minorities were 3-4 times higher than whites, and per capita deaths among urban residents were twice those of rural residents. By fall 2020, per capita hospitalizations and deaths in rural areas surpassed those of urban areas, and gaps between black/brown and white populations narrowed. Cumulative morbidity and mortality were highest among minority groups and in rural communities.ConclusionsBurden of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality shifted over time, creating a twindemic involving disparities in outcomes based on race and geography. Health officials should explicitly measure disparities and adjust mitigation and vaccination strategies to protect vulnerable sub-populations with greater disease burden.

TURNING FARMERS INTO SOCIAL FARMER ENTREPRENEURS FOR DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remus Runcan
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural Development Programme ◽  
Rural And Urban

According to Romania’s National Rural Development Programme, the socio-economic situation of the rural environment has a large number of weaknesses – among which low access to financial resources for small entrepreneurs and new business initiatives in rural areas and poorly developed entrepreneurial culture, characterized by a lack of basic managerial knowledge – but also a large number of opportunities – among which access of the rural population to lifelong learning and entrepreneurial skills development programmes and entrepreneurs’ access to financial instruments. The population in rural areas depends mainly on agricultural activities which give them subsistence living conditions. The gap between rural and urban areas is due to low income levels and employment rates, hence the need to obtain additional income for the population employed in subsistence and semi-subsistence farming, especially in the context of the depopulation trend. At the same time, the need to stimulate entrepreneurship in rural areas is high and is at a resonance with the need to increase the potential of rural communities from the perspective of landscape, culture, traditional activities and local resources. A solution could be to turn vegetal and / or animal farms into social farms – farms on which people with disabilities (but also adolescents and young people with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, and alexithymia issues) might find a “foster” family, bed and meals in a natural, healthy environment, and share the farm’s activities with the farmer and the farmer’s family: “committing to a regular day / days and times for a mutually agreed period involves complying with any required health and safety practices (including use of protective clothing and equipment), engaging socially with the farm family members and other people working on and around the farm, and taking on tasks which would include working on the land, taking care of animals, or helping out with maintenance and other physical work”

scholarly journals Evaluation of Community Resilience in Rural China—Taking Licheng Subdistrict, Guangzhou as an Example

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5827
Author(s):  
Jianhong Fan ◽  
You Mo ◽  
Yunnan Cai ◽  
Yabo Zhao ◽  
Dongchen Su
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Guangzhou City ◽  
Local Sustainability

Resilience of rural communities is becoming increasingly important to contemporary society. In this study we used a quantitative method to measure the resilience regulating ability of rural communities close to urban areas—in Licheng Subdistrict, Guangzhou City, China. The main results are as follows: (1) Rural systems close to urban areas display superior adapting and learning abilities and have a stronger overall resilience strength, the spatial distribution of which is characterized by dispersion in whole and aggregation in part; (2) the resilience of most rural economic subsystems can reach moderate or higher levels with apparent spatial agglomeration, whilst the ecological subsystem resilience and social resilience are generally weaker; the spatial distribution of the former shows a greater regional difference while the latter is in a layered layout; (3) some strategies such as rebuilding a stable ecological pattern, making use of urban resources and cultivating rural subjectivity are proposed on this basis, in order to promote the sustainable development of rural areas and realize rural revitalization. This work also gives suggestion for the creation of appropriate and effective resilience standards specifically targeted for rural community-aiming to achieve the delivery of local sustainability goals.

Civic Participation and Social Embeddedness: Differences Between Urban and Rural Communities

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-67
Author(s):  
Tuuli-Marja Kleiner
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multi Level

Does civic participation lead to a large social network? This study claims that high levels of civic participation may obstruct individual social embeddedness. Using survey data from the German Survey on Volunteering (Deutscher Freiwilligensurvey; 1999–2009), this study conducts macro- as well as multi-level regressions to examine the link between civic participation and social embeddedness. Findings reveal that civic participation on the sub-national regional level is not generally associated with social embeddedness, but it affects the participants’ and non-participants’ possibilities for friendships differently. This holds especially true in urban areas, but the effect cannot be found in rural areas. The analysis has implications for further research to enhance the social embeddedness of the excluded.

Damage assessment mapping of rural environments; integration of SAR and Optical data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiran Havivi ◽  
Stanley R. Rotman ◽  
Dan G. Blumberg ◽  
Shimrit Maman
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Optical Data ◽  
Damage Level ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Rural And Urban

<p>The damage caused by a natural disaster in rural areas differs in nature, extent, landscape and in structure, from the damage in urban environments. Previous and current studies focus mainly on mapping damaged structures in urban areas after catastrophe events such as an earthquake or tsunami. Yet, research focusing on the damage level or its distribution in rural areas is absent. In order to apply an emergency response and for effective disaster management, it is necessary to understand and characterize the nature of the damage in each different environment. </p><p>Havivi et al. (2018), published a damage assessment algorithm that makes use of SAR images combined with optical data, for rapid mapping and compiling a damage assessment map following a natural disaster. The affected areas are analyzed using interferometric SAR (InSAR) coherence. To overcome the loss of coherence caused by changes in vegetation, optical images are used to produce a mask by computing the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and removing the vegetated area from the scene. Due to the differences in geomorphological settings and landuse\landcover between rural and urban settlements, the above algorithm is modified and adjusted by inserting the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) to better suit rural environments and their unique response after a disaster. MNDWI is used for detection, identification and extraction of waterbodies (such as irrigation canals, streams, rivers, lakes, etc.), allowing their removal which causes lack of coherence at the post stage of the event. Furthermore, it is used as an indicator for highlighting prone regions that might be severely affected pre disaster event. Thresholds are determined for the co-event coherence map (≤ 0.5), the NDVI (≥ 0.4) and the MNDWI (≥ 0), and the three layers are combined into one. Based on the combined map, a damage assessment map is generated. </p><p>As a case study, this algorithm was applied to the areas affected by multi-hazard event, following the Sulawesi earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Palu, Indonesia, which occurred on September 28th, 2018. High-resolution COSMO-SkyMed images pre and post the event, alongside a Sentinel-2 image pre- event are used as inputs. The output damage assessment map provides a quantitative assessment and spatial distribution of the damage in both the rural and urban environments. The results highlight the applicability of the algorithm for a variety of disaster events and sensors. In addition, the results enhance the contribution of the water component to the analysis pre and post the event in rural areas. Thus, while in urban regions the spatial extent of the damage will occur in its proximity to the coastline or the fault, rural regions, even in significant distance will experience extensive damage due secondary hazards as liquefaction processes.     </p>

scholarly journals Tolerance to Human Presence, a Comparison between Rural and Urban Birds in Southeastern Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Maria Cecília Barbosa de Toledo
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Urban Birds ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Individual Bird

Green urban areas such as parks, squares, gardens, and forest fragments present a large diversity of uses and conservation objectives. These spaces provide resources for many species of birds that are confronted with the necessity of living in proximity to humans. It is assumed that bird species that acquire resources in urban environments live in a constant state of fear to guarantee survival and reproduction. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the tolerance of birds with respect to human presence in two distinct conditions, rural areas (low level of human presence) and urban areas (high level of human presence). The fieldwork was conducted in a city in the Southeast region of Brazil, and the methodology used the alert distance and flight initiation measurements based on the approach of an observer to the individual bird being focused. Our results suggest that individuals observed in urban areas rely on shorter alert and escape distances, especially males, adults, and birds that forage in interspecific flocks. We discuss the challenges and strategies with respect to escape characteristics of urban birds, with special focus on the economic escape theory. In general, our results support those from studies conducted in other urban areas in different biogeographic regions, and they will aid in comprehending the impacts caused by the increase in urban areas around the world.

scholarly journals Analyses of Nocturnal Temperature Cooling-Rate Response to Historical Local-Scale Urban Land-Use/Land Cover Change

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 1872-1883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winston T. L. Chow ◽  
Bohumil M. Svoma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Cooling Rate ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Urban Land Use ◽  
Cooling Rates ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Over Time

AbstractUrbanization affects near-surface climates by increasing city temperatures relative to rural temperatures [i.e., the urban heat island (UHI) effect]. This effect is usually measured as the relative temperature difference between urban areas and a rural location. Use of this measure is potentially problematic, however, mainly because of unclear “rural” definitions across different cities. An alternative metric is proposed—surface temperature cooling/warming rates—that directly measures how variations in land-use and land cover (LULC) affect temperatures for a specific urban area. In this study, the impact of local-scale (<1 km2), historical LULC change was examined on near-surface nocturnal meteorological station temperatures sited within metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, for 1) urban versus rural areas, 2) areas that underwent rural-to-urban transition over a 20-yr period, and 3) different seasons. Temperature data were analyzed during ideal synoptic conditions of clear and calm weather that do not inhibit surface cooling and that also qualified with respect to measured near-surface wind impacts. Results indicated that 1) urban areas generally observed lower cooling-rate magnitudes than did rural areas, 2) urbanization significantly reduced cooling rates over time, and 3) mean cooling-rate magnitudes were typically larger in summer than in winter. Significant variations in mean nocturnal urban wind speeds were also observed over time, suggesting a possible UHI-induced circulation system that may have influenced local-scale station cooling rates.

Why Do People Migrate?

On the Move ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Garip
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
The Third ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
First Time ◽  
Over Time

This chapter provides an overview of the migration field, and a brief review of Mexico–U.S. migration flows up to 1965, the year the analysis here begins. It describes the data and methods that led the author to discover four groups among first-time migrants from Mexico to the United States between 1965 and 2010. The first cluster—mostly uneducated and poor men from rural communities—was the majority in the 1970s but dropped to a small minority by the 1990s. The second cluster—many of them teenage boys from relatively better-off families—peaked in the 1980s, becoming the majority group at that time, but declined consistently in size thereafter. The third cluster—mostly women with family ties to former migrants—was increasing slowly in size until it experienced a sudden spike in the early 1990s. And the fourth cluster—mostly educated men from urban areas—grew persistently over time, grabbing the majority status among all first-time migrants in the early 1990s.

ICT-Supported Education for Sustainable Development of South Korean Rural Communities

2012 ◽  
pp. 769-785
Author(s):  
K. P. Joo
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The South ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Rural And Urban

The rural communities in South Korea have faced serious challenges as the country has gradually opened the agricultural market and extended the conclusion of Free Trade Agreement with more and more countries. Moreover, due to the national socio-economic and political structures, South Korea has been undergoing the technological imbalance between rural and urban areas. In order to cope with these vital social challenges, the South Korean government has exerted considerable investment and effort in establishing ICT knowledge and skills as well as infrastructure in rural areas. Thus, conceptualizing ICT in the context of adult education, this chapter addresses three ICT-supported adult education programs oriented toward developing ICT skills and competencies of people in agricultural areas of South Korea. The South Korean cases of agricultural ICT education represent the vast and concentrated national efforts in integrating ICT across rural areas in this fast changing global situation.

Organizational Description and Emergency Preparedness of Nationally Registered First Responders

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Studnek ◽  
Antonio R. Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Fire Departments ◽  
Community Size ◽  
Service Type ◽  
In Fire

AbstractIntroduction: This study intended to describe the types of organizations and communities in which Nationally Registered First Responders (NRFR) perform their duties. Also, it aimed to estimate the number of NRFR who received disaster preparedness training. It was hypothesized that NRFR participation in disaster preparedness training was related to the types of organizations and communities in which they performed their duties.Methods: The NRFR re-registering in 2006 were asked to report the organization type and community size in which they work. They also were asked to report the amount and content of preparedness training received during the last 24 months. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was utilized to describe the relationship between NRFR organizational characteristics and the receipt of disaster preparedness training.Results: The analysis included 872 (59%) individuals who completed the survey and reported working for one or more emergency medical services (EMS) organizations. The majority of NRFR performed work in rural areas (75%) and more NRFR reported working for fire departments (61%) than for any other organization type. In all categories of service type, participants who reported working in urban areas had higher odds of receiving disaster preparedness training than those working in rural areas. Additionally, regardless of community size, individuals working in fire departments were more likely to receive disaster preparedness training.Conclusions: This study indicated that the majority of NRFR perform EMS duties for fire departments and work in rural communities. In this sample of NRFR, more than one-quarter did not receive disaster preparedness training within a 24-month period. Finally, a statistical model was constructed that indicated a relationship between service type, community size, and the participation in disaster preparedness training.

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