November 2020
Jackson, Tennessee - Tennessee is one of just 14 states that still does not have a statewide mask mandate in place, now researchers are revealing some troubling statistics about how much faster cases are spreading in rural areas that never imposed mask mandates compared to counties that had them in place at some point during the pandemic.
It’s a pattern that’s playing out in rural communities around the country, including across Tennessee. Rural counties have been dealing with an enormous surge in cases recently. primarily in counties that never imposed a mask mandate at all. The real surge began in October as West Tennessee saw cases and deaths hit record levels. Early on in the pandemic, major metro areas were far more affected by COVID-19 than rural communities. Now that situation is reversed. As cases rose over the summer in more urban areas, many mayors in those large cities decided to impose mask mandates. Soon after those measures were in place, cities saw their numbers begin to drop.
When the city surge happened over the summer, many rural counties did nothing to install safety measures, which meant a surge was likely to happen at some point in these areas.
That’s exactly what started to happen. As cases slowed in the more populated counties across Tennessee, they sped up in areas like Pickett County and Trousdale County, where 15.1% of people living there have tested positive at some point during the pandemic.
One of the biggest challenges for areas like these is the lack of access to healthcare. Many rural Tennessee counties don’t have the facilities to care for an influx of patients all at once.
31% of rural counties that don’t have adequate medical facilities also don’t have mask mandates right now. Since 2012, 11 rural hospitals in the state have closed, leaving many people without a local hospital nearby.
Jackson-Madison County General Hospital typically cares for patients from eight surrounding counties and takes up to 60 ambulance transfers from those locations each day. That was until recently.
Last week the hospital began turning residents of outlying counties away, simply because they are out of room and staff to care for more patients.
Even though masks aren’t a magic cure, they actually tend to lead to other safe behaviors in public. People who wear masks are more likely to socially distance while in public, as well as wash their hands more often.
That means, if the entire state was on the same page about imposing a mask mandate,we could save lives and relieve the stress on our hospitals.
That’s according to a long-range Vanderbilt University Study. It found that Tennessee hospitals where 75% or more of its patients come from counties with mask mandates, – hospital rates increased 11% during the month of October.
For hospitals, like Jackson Madison General, where 75% or more patients come from counties with no mandates, hospital rates jumped 90% between October first and October 28th.
Of the 29 counties with positivity rates at or above 15%, 18 of them have no mandate in place.
One of the hardest hit spots in Western Tennessee is Dyer County where 8.3% of the 37,000 people living there have been infected. On October 18th the county recorded its highest 7-day average with 86 new cases. A week later a mask mandate went into effect and the 7-day average is now around 40 new cases.
Last week, a group of front-line physicians from around the state wrote a letter to Governor Bill Lee, urging him to issue a state-wide mask mandate, as hospitals begin to struggle caring for the influx of patients. But, despite increasing calls from all types of groups, the governor remains adamant that he won’t issue a face mask requirement, saying he believes directives are better coming from the local level.
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