Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID-19 Surge

People line up to be tested for the coronavirus at a free testing site Wednesday, Nov. 18 in Seattle.

Elaine Thompson / AP

Debbie Roberts wishes her stepbrother had just slid away from his advanced Parkinson’s disease.

He 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, Wash., — population about 1,000. So far, at least 16 people at the facility have died since Thanksgiving.

“If only he hadn’t contracted this COVID and left this world in such agony,” Roberts says. “We sort of talk to him among ourselves. We say, ‘Sorry Ken, we’re so sorry you had to go this way.’ ”