In this photo taken March 20, 2020, Mike Johnston, a clerk at the Maupin Market in tiny Maupin, Oregon, wipes down the ice cream case to protect customers from the new coronavirus. Tiny towns tucked into Oregon's windswept plains and cattle ranches miles from anywhere in South Dakota might not have had a single case of the new coronavirus yet, but their residents fear the spread of the disease to areas with scarce medical resources, the social isolation that comes when the o…
March 25, 2020
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Rural America watches pandemic erupt in cities as fear grows
DUFUR, Ore. (AP) — The social distancing rules repeated like a mantra in America's urban centers, where the coronavirus is spreading exponentially, might seem silly in wide-open places where neighbors live miles apart and “working from home” means another day spent branding calves or driving a tractor alone through a field.