Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Kill Rural America?

Per one piece in the Washington Post, over 2100 cities ate running budget shortfalls and facing layoffs of employees if the coronavirus economic shutdown continues.  Yet in small town America the situation is worse. Another article in the New York Times looks at one small New Hampshire town slammed by the business shutdown and reliant on one major employer where many fear the summer tourism trade will evaporate.  In already economically challenged rural areas of the country - think Southwest Virginia - the situation is being replicated over and over. Hence the push by some to "reopen the economy" and be damned with the risk of ending social distancing even as South Dakota finds itself as a rural hot spot of Covid-19 cases after that state's Republican governor delayed in issuing a stay at home order.  As a piece in the Post notes, that governor acted as follows:  

Such edicts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Kristi L. Noem said disparagingly, reflected a “herd mentality.” It was up to individuals — not government — to decide whether “to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.” And besides, the first-term Republican told reporters at a briefing this month, “South Dakota is not New York City.”

Yes, there is no easy answer to where the nation finds itself  - a situation made worse by weeks of dither at the federal level thanks to Der Trumpenführer.  Here are highlights from the Times piece on what is unfolding in one place in small town America:

The coronavirus itself was slow to arrive in Bristol, a lakeside town of 3,300 people. The economic destruction came swiftly.

By the end of March, with just a few local cases confirmed, gift shops, yoga studios and restaurants had all shut their doors. Hundreds lost jobs, contributing to a record surge in national unemployment claims.

But at least the Freudenberg factory was running at full strength. The factory, which employs 350 people and makes bonded piston seals and other components for carmakers around the world, has an outsize impact on Bristol’s economy.

Besides paying employees their salaries and the town taxes, the factory — part of a German industrial conglomerate — is the largest customer of Bristol’s sewage and water systems, a linchpin of the annual budget.

As the coronavirus upends economic life around the world, small towns like Bristol are particularly vulnerable. Freudenberg is its lone large employer. There are just a few national chains — a Dunkin’, a Rite Aid and a Dollar General. And many of the small locally owned businesses depend on seasonal residents, who flock to Newfound Lake during the summer, doubling the town’s population for a few months.

The community has tried to come together in recent weeks, with residents extending help to one another and trying to support local establishments. But with unemployment ballooning and the threat of worse financial pain to come, neighborly good will is worth only so much over the long term.

On April 3, the bad news started to spread around town. Freudenberg announced it was firing more than 100 people, shutting down its manufacturing of bonded piston seals and looking for additional buyouts. With car sales around the world essentially halted, automakers were suspending operations, and suppliers like Freudenberg were suddenly without revenue to pay workers in places like Bristol.

The layoffs, however predictable they may have been, were a blow to Bristol’s morale. Several people affected by the layoffs declined to be interviewed, not wanting to upset the biggest employer in town.

Much of Bristol has now ground to a halt. Restaurants were among the first to close last month. The Homestead, a popular spot where locals splurge on crab-stuffed haddock and lobster rolls, tried to do takeout. But after a week of losing money, Mark McDonough, who owns the Homestead and four other restaurants in the state, shut it down.

“If this goes on too long, we won’t survive,” Brad Tonner said. “This is going to kill small-town America.”

A major test of Bristol’s resilience will come this summer, when second homes around Newfound Lake fill up. Though Mr. Coates isn’t even sure the town will open its beaches, some year-round residents are already worried that a surge of visitors could spread the virus.

Yet if the crowds don’t show up, the economy will suffer that much more. “The seasonal businesses will be killed if this isn’t over by the summer,” Mr. Coates said.

And then there is the Freudenberg factory. In a statement, the company said that the layoffs were temporary, and that it anticipated “that the facility will be back on line as soon as our customers and suppliers, themselves, return to normal operations.”

“My concern is that this thing drags on for a year or spikes again,” Mr. Coates said, “and our businesses don’t come back.”

While I worry going to work and meeting with clients armed with a mask and tons of sanitizer, I am grateful that at least for now we have one income still coming in.