He ‘Left This World In Such Agony’: Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID Surge

By Anna King
Ken Roberts, left, with his step-sister Debbie Roberts and her husband Steve Kinzie at a Christmas gathering at the Tonasket care facility in 2018. Courtesy of Debbie Roberts
Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More

COVID First Hit Long-Term Care In Puget Sound Region. Now It’s Hitting Home In Rural Areas

By Scott Leadingham
Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., prepares to give a daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
Some of the hardest hit places have been long-term care facilities in rural areas like Tonasket in Okanogan County, and in central Washington. At least three care facilities in Grant County have reported outbreaks and deaths since a large wedding near Ritzville last month attended by some care facility staff who later tested positive for COVID-19. But a definitive Read More
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