Joint exposure to urban-rural status and medically underserved area residence and risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes in 2020.

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to estimate the risk of severe COVID-19 among individuals residing in rural, medically underserved counties compared to those living in other counties.

Methods: Individual-level COVID-19 hospitalization and death data and demographic variables were downloaded from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2013 National Center for Health Statistics Urban-Rural Classification Scheme was used to classify urban and rural counties.