- Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Highlights Investments in Rural America, Invites Public Nominations for Rural Innovators Initiative
- Rural Victims of Intimate-Partner Violence Need More Resources and Support, Study Finds
- A Tribe in Maine Is Using Opioid Settlement Funds on a Sweat Lodge to Treat Addiction
- Fact Sheet: USDA, HHS Announce New Actions to Reduce Impact and Spread of H5N1
- Call for Experts: Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence
- Bill to Expand Definition of 'Village' Qualifying for Water Funds Passes Alaska House
- Child Care Workers Caught in Middle of Michigan's Broken Child Care System
- Few Options Available for Substance Abuse Treatment in the Big Bend
- In Rural Texas, ERs Are Facing a Growing Mental Health Crisis
- Ways and Means Members Put Forth Solutions to Strengthen Telehealth Access and Improve Health Care for Rural Communities
- Sage Memorial Hospital in Navajo Nation Constructs New Facility to Improve Health Care
- How the State, Tribes and Federal Government Are Working to Curb SD's Syphilis Epidemic
- Rural Children Struggle to Access Hospital Services, Say Researchers
- RPHARM Program Fulfills Need for Rural Pharmacists
- A Pilot Program in Rural Vermont Hopes to Build a Blueprint for Substance Abuse Recovery
HHS Awards Nearly $500 Million to Workforce Programs
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced a new round of funding to recruit and support primary care professionals and students for the National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and other programs building the health workforce. Through these efforts, more than 16,000 clinicians provide care to 17 million patients in underserved areas nationwide. Read more here.
Rural Infection Rate Exceeds Metropolitan Rate over 60%
By Tim Murphy and Tim Marema
Metropolitan counties accounted for more than three-quarters of the new Covid-19 cases last week. But on a per capita basis, the rate of new infections in nonmetropolitan counties is much higher.
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Domestic Violence in Rural America Increases During Pandemic
By Liz Carey
Rising economic pressures during the pandemic and limited access to transportation contributed to a rise in physical violence and abuse in rural households.
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Covid-19 Patients Swamp Rural Hospitals
By Christine Vestal
Hard-hit communities in the Midwest and Great Plains are beginning to run short on staff, beds, and ICU rooms.
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Rural Infections Break Record for Fourth Week. Rural Cases Top 1 Million
By Tim Murphy and Tim Marema
New infections climbed by 16% in rural counties last week, putting 160 more rural counties on the red-zone list.
Read more
Pennsylvania Family Support Statewide Needs Assessment Released
In partnership with the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia released the 2020 Pennsylvania Family Support Needs Assessment (FSNA).
This assessment is a requirement for Pennsylvania to continue receipt of federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) funds. For the last two years, the research conducted a robust assessment that examines a wide range of maternal and child social, environmental and health factors impacting the well-being of children, families and communities across state.
The report can be accessed at: https://policylab.chop.edu/reports-and-tools/2020-pennsylvania-family-support-needs-assessment. A partner toolkit also has been developed that includes information on social media distribution and other dissemination tools. See: https://policylab.chop.edu/reports-and-tools/partner-toolkit-2020-pennsylvania-family-support-needs-assessment.
Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture, Health Confirm Pennsylvania’s First COVID-19 Positive Cat
Pennsylvania State Veterinarian Dr. Kevin Brightbill announced that Pennsylvania has confirmed its first COVID-19 positive cat.
The 16-year old Cumberland County cat, who lived in a household with multiple individuals who had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19, presented in early October with mild respiratory illness. Unfortunately, as a result of respiratory distress, the cat was humanely euthanized. The case is still under investigation, and a primary cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
The Pennsylvania cat is one of a handful of COVID-19 positive pets from across the United States that died or were euthanized while infected. All pets infected had known prolonged exposure to COVID-19 individuals and none to date appear to have died from COVID-19. Instead, other serious underlying illnesses are attributable to cause of death.
“As Pennsylvanians have spent more time at home throughout the pandemic, our companion animals have undoubtedly been the recipients of extra love and attention,” said Dr. Brightbill. “If you or a loved one becomes diagnosed with COVID-19, take steps to keep your pet healthy, just as you would your family.”
Many of the same recommendations for protecting people apply to animals. To help protect Pennsylvania pets, households with COVID-19 positive individuals should adhere to the following guidelines:
- Avoid contact with pets and other animals, as you would other people.
- Arrange for another household member to care for your pet(s) while you or family members are in isolation.
- Avoid contact such as petting, holding, snuggling, facial contact, and sleeping in the same bed.
- Wear a mask and wash your hands before feeding or tending to your pet if you are unable to find alternative care for them.
Symptoms of COVID-19 in pets includes fever, coughing, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, lethargy, sneezing, nose or eye discharge, vomiting, or diarrhea. If your pet exhibits symptoms after contact with a person positive for COVID-19, contact your private veterinarian.
At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading COVID-19 to people. COVID-19 is mainly spread through person-to-person contact.
Pennsylvania Governor Announces Plan to Waive Liquor License Fees To Provide Financial Relief to Restaurants and Bars
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a plan to waive liquor license fees to provide financial relief to restaurants and bars, which have faced significant financial impacts during the COVID-19 public health crisis.
“As we enter the anticipated fall resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the very contagious nature of this virus makes gathering indoors publicly at full capacity dangerous. Still, we know that restaurant and bar owners in Pennsylvania are committed to keeping their employees and customers safe and the vast majority of these businesses have followed safety precautions and invested in new procedures and supplies, but COVID continues to hurt this industry,” Gov. Wolf said. “My administration continues to look for innovative ways that we can support the bar and restaurant industry. Eliminating liquor license fees is an important step toward helping bars and restaurants retain the capital they need to weather the storm of COVID-19.”
Governor Wolf is working with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to waive standard licensing fees through 2021 starting January 1, 2021. More than 16,000 Pennsylvania restaurants and bars, clubs, catering clubs and hotels would see $20 million in relief.
The governor was joined by state Representatives Dan Deasy (D-Allegheny), Ed Gainey (D-Allegheny) and Jake Wheatley (D-Allegheny), and Senator Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) at LeMont Restaurant in Pittsburgh.
“I’m glad I could work with Governor Wolf to bring help to our bars, restaurants, taverns and social clubs right now. I know this isn’t a solution to the big problems this pandemic presents, and more help is needed,” said Rep. Deasy. “I’m working hard to enact additional measures that can help keep these vital employers in business.”
“This terrible public health crisis has also stricken our economy and our path to recovery will need to be a well thought out and effective one on several fronts. While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected just about every industry, restaurants and bars have been hit particularly hard and we need to provide relief to these small businesses at the heart of our communities,” said Sen. Fontana. “Over the summer, Senate Democrats introduced a comprehensive proposal to provide emergency relief to Pennsylvania’s restaurants and taverns, which have seen significant financial loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown. Under our plan, license renewal and permit fees that are paid by restaurants and taverns would be waived for one year along with other administrative changes to help financially benefit these struggling businesses. I’m pleased that the governor is taking steps to implement some of our goals and am encouraged that this will provide meaningful assistance to so many of these establishments that are struggling.”
As part of his fall legislative agenda, Governor Wolf has called on the General Assembly to provide an additional $225 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding in the form of forgivable loans and grants to small businesses in Pennsylvania through the COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance Program. In addition, the governor proposed $100 million in forgivable loans and grants for the hospitality, leisure and service industries, including restaurants and bars, salons and barber shops.
The governor also supports the federal Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive (RESTAURANTS) Act. The bipartisan bill in Congress provides $120 billion to help independent restaurants with the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Calls for Research Proposals – $375,000 in PA Farm Bill Funds Available to Grow Livestock, Poultry Industries
Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding called for research proposals that will strengthen and grow Pennsylvania’s poultry, swine, lamb, sheep and goat farming industries. Funded by the 2019 PA Farm Bill, $375,000 is available for projects to enhance biosecurity, diagnostic testing, veterinary telemedicine and other strategies to prevent, detect and manage animal diseases and protect the food supply.
“Science has made the food we eat safer and more abundant,” said Redding. “And science holds the keys to staying ahead of evolving diseases that bring catastrophic losses on the farm, devastate our economy and literally break the food supply chain. We’re looking to fund projects that will help Pennsylvania produce food even more safely, humanely and efficiently, regardless of the size of the farm operation and the challenges each presents.”
The 2019 PA Farm Bill created the Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence, which is managed by PennAg Industries Association. The center’s board will review projects to be funded and assess their potential to meet the grant’s goals.
“I often reflect on the statement ‘proper prior planning prevents pitifully poor performance,’” said PennAg Executive Vice President Chris Herr. “This statement represents the focus of the funding opportunities this year. The center will concentrate on tools needed and preparedness for the lamb, sheep, goat, swine and poultry farmers across the commonwealth.”
Funding priorities are as follows.
$250,000 will be allocated for:
- Developing innovative methods to manage disease outbreaks in humane, safe, practical and efficient ways in large-scale livestock and poultry operations.
- Practical biosecurity implementation for commercial and backyard domestic livestock operations, recognizing threats such operations face from wildlife and inherent risks operations pose to each other.
- Increase diagnostic tools available through the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory system to support food-animal production with focus on enhanced to detect, differentiate and manage pathogens.
- Development, training and opportunities for food animal veterinarians to explore the capability of remote telemedicine to address challenges of supporting livestock health and animal productivity in rural Pennsylvania.
Approximately $125,000 will be allocated for projects to:
- Study various culturally-based live-animal sale practices to improve disease traceability in custom-butchered animals.
- Solicitation of industry input on specific diseases to identify and estimate the economic impact on PA food-animal operations.
- Establish protocols to mediate, prevent and eradicate bed bugs on poultry farms.
Apply online through PennAg. Full grant proposal guidelines can be found on the department’s website.
Proposals must be received by 11 a.m. on December 2, 2020. Applications whose proposals are accepted for funding will be notified by December 14.
Updated COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers Released
The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), in coordination with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), are pleased to provide an update of the COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers guide. This funding resource is intended to support rural health care providers, along with their state and local partners, navigate the availability of federal funds to support the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic response and recovery efforts. This guide is updated regularly to capture changes in funding sources.
Seven tables, or matrices, are provided for quick reference at the beginning of this resource. The tables can be used to check eligibility of participation in funding sources by provider types: rural prospective payment system (PPS) and critical access hospitals (CAH), rural health clinics (RHC), federally qualified health centers (FQHC), long-term care (LTC) or skilled nursing facilities (SNF), tribal facilities, and emergency medical services (EMS). The tables also provide an at-a-glance view for each provider type sharing the different types of funds that may be accessed from various funding sources dependent on their participation eligibility. Each funding source is described in its own section of this resource with an executive summary followed by further detail on the use of funds, reporting requirements, hyperlinks to the legislation and detailed information.
The guide can be found in COVID-19 Collection located on The National Rural Health Resource Center’s website. This collection consists of trusted and reliable resources, such as the COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers Guide, along with standing links to additional organizations’ COVID-19 resources, FAQs, webinars, tools, and trainings. The Center aims to help direct the most up-to-date and relevant tools and resources to rural hospitals, clinics, and their communities. This Collection will be updated regularly to help assist with the abundance of circulating information relating to COVID-19.