Some rural areas pushing back against pandemic distancing - Entrepreneur Generations

Conservatives in several states, mostly from rural areas, have filed lawsuits challenging state government-ordered public health measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The suits highlight the differences in how rural and urban areas are experiencing and perceiving the pandemic, Kirk Siegler reports for NPR affiliate KUOW in Seattle.

For example, in Oregon, where the rural-urban divide has been particularly hostile in recent years, rural Oregon churches filed suit to vacate Democratic Gov. Kate Brown's stay-at-home orders. A judge in rural Baker County ruled last week that Brown had acted beyond her authority, though the orders will remain in effect pending a state Supreme Court review, Krebs reports

Bill Harvey, a Republican who chairs the Baker County Commission and who signed onto the most recent lawsuit, supports the judge's ruling. "You don't have the threats you would have in a major city," he told Krebs. "You can't judge or control our atmosphere based on what you think the Portland area should be." The local economy depends on tourism and cattle ranching, both of which have been hurt by the pandemic.

Kathy Cramer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist, told Siegler that the pandemic has exacerbated rural worries that the government is ignoring them when writing policy. "The idea that the government is not attentive enough to the actual challenges of rural communities is not new," Cramer said. "The pandemic seems to have deepened some of the resentment that's been there for a long time." Cramer is a featured guest on a webinar Friday that will discuss rural-urban differences in perception during the pandemic.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2TP9ukp Some rural areas pushing back against pandemic distancing - Entrepreneur Generations

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