HAYNEVILLE, Ala. – Sparsely populated Lowndes County, deep in Alabama's old plantation country, has the sad distinction of having both the state’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases and its worst unemployment rate.
Initially spared as the disease ravaged cities, the county and other rural areas in the state are now facing a “perfect storm:” a lack of access to medical care combined with poverty and the attendant health problems, including hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease and diabetes, that can worsen the outcomes for those who become sick with the coronavirus, said Dr.
Ellen Eaton. “I think a lot of people fell into this idea that we were immune because we’re not in tight spaces like in New York and New Jersey, and