Rural Health COVID-19 Update

March 26, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a recording of its “Update for Rural Partners, Stakeholders and Communities on the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Response” held on March 23. Questions about rural public health issues, including those related to COVID-19, may be sent to ruralhealth@cdc.gov.

The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) is updating a variety of COVID-19 resources and communications on its emergency response webpage.

The Rural Health Information Hub has complied a guide of resources focused on the rural response to COVID-19.

On March 18, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced waivers to its Rural Health Care and E-Rate programs to allow healthcare providers, schools, and libraries to accept improved capacity, Wi-Fi hotspots, networking gear, or other equipment or services to support doctors and patients, teachers and students, and librarians and patrons during the coronavirus outbreak.