Confirmed COVID-19 cases are concentrated in North Carolina’s urban centers up to now, but more rural areas are also feeling the economic and social ripples of the coronavirus pandemic. In North Carolina’s poorest county, the threat of economic recession looms greater than the disease itself.
Robeson County residents were ready to respond quickly to hungry children let out of school, though. Recent hurricanes primed community members to chip in and take care of one another whenever disaster strikes. Host Anita Rao speaks with Donnie Douglas, editor of The Robesonian, about the county’s response to the threat of contagion. Meanwhile, urban areas in the mountains and on the coast are preparing for the outbreak differently than the hospital-filled Triangle area. Helen Chickering, a reporter and host for Blue Ridge Public Radio, joins the conversation to describe how mountain communities are strategizing containment and economic resilience.
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