COVID-19: A Rural US Emergency Department Perspective

Several aspects led to the poor control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the US from a rural emergency department (ED) perspective. These include US residents’ attitude towards political involvement in health and civil rights; lack of enough testing kits and rapid test results, or not available at all; and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages. These obstacles related to medical supplies and resources, and lack of coordinated approach to the pandemic in the US, are important information for retrospective disaster research to understand study limitations, extrapolate accurate and valid data, and for other countries to understand how and why the US had higher numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths compared to other countries.