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Impact of COVID-19 in Small Towns

Peters, Novak, & Berg.  SOC 3100, ISU Extension and Outreach.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic continues to be a major public health crisis in the U.S., severely impacting the health, economic, and emotional welfare of many Americans. There is an immediate need to understand how COVID-19 has impacted the well-being of residents in understudied rural communities, especially meat packing towns that have had
large outbreaks among their diverse workforce. This report summaries key statewide impacts and perceptions of COVID-19 from a survey of 13,679 households across 73 small towns in Iowa, including two micropolitans. There were 5,229 Iowans who responded to our survey between December 2020 through February 2021, for a response rate of 38.2 percent.

The report can be downloaded here … SOC 3100.PDF