Overall summary of how rural communities in particular may be impacted by the coronavirus
This is a link to a letter sent to The Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by the chairs of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), The Plunkett Foundation (supporting rural community business), Rural Services Netwrok (provides a wealth of information and campaigns for a Rural Strategy) and the Rural Coalition (thirteen national organisations who subscribe to a vision for a living and working countryside in England.)
The letter lists many areas of rural life that will be particularly impacted by the coronavirus outbreak including the economy, rural employement (which tends to be more focussed on self employment and people managing several jobs at once), caring for the elderly and vulnerable and pubs, community shops, village halls and other local community spaces. It also highlights the positive of the huge amount of initatives and caring in rural communjties and asks the government to rural proof its strategies.
The link to the full letter is here (and thank you to the RSN for including it in their weekly newsletter)
https://rsnonline.org.uk/images/Covid_19_Letter_to_George_Eustic.pdf
This is a link to a Farming Today programme on BBC Sounds with a discussion with ACRE about how rural charities, many of which provide lifelines for their communities, may be impacted.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000h8r5
A helpful brieifng note from the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University on the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on rural economies and communities
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/cre/news/item/covid-19andruraleconomies.html