Will Stone

As the coronavirus outbreak surges across the country, many rural communities — places which were largely spared during the early months of the pandemic — are now seeing an unprecedented spike in infections and hospitalizations.

Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly in many states as the U.S. heads into the winter months. And forecasters predict staggering growth in infections and deaths if current trends continue.

It's exactly the kind of scenario that public health experts have long warned could be in store for the country, if it did not aggressively tamp down on infections over the summer.

Even when there isn't a pandemic, finding the right doctor can be tough in rural eastern Ohio. Reid Davis, 21, and his mother Crystal live in Jefferson County, which hugs the Ohio River near West Virginia. Their home is surrounded by farms, hayfields and just a few neighbors.

"To the nearest hospital, you're talking about 50 minutes to an hour," Reid Davis says.

After a rocky, short-lived tenure at the National Institutes of Health, a former top federal scientist who clashed with the Trump administration in the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak has stepped down from his post over what he said were continued efforts to thwart his work on the nation's pandemic response.

According to his attorneys, Dr. Rick Bright submitted his resignation on Tuesday to NIH leadership, claiming he was "sidelined from doing any further work to combat this deadly virus."

It's been two weeks since the public learned about a deadly outbreak of coronavirus at Life Care Center of Kirkland — a long-term care and nursing facility in Washington state — and some families wait on edge over loved ones who remain there.

As of Friday afternoon, only about a third of the 120 residents who were living at the facility in mid-February remain. There are 25 people associated with Life Care who have died after being infected with coronavirus. Other residents are in the hospital.