DeKalb Times

Rural areas in Illinois are starting to reopen, but an Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs researcher believes these areas will face challenges that urban areas in the state won't see. 

Dr. Norman Walzer, creator of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs and senior research scholar in the Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies, told the Telegraph that in rural areas there are many older businesses owners. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the rural areas, many of these owners had already been planning to retire soon. 

“Those people have just reached retirement age and the difficulty is there really often aren’t people in the community that want to take these businesses over,” Walzer told the Telegraph.

To make matters worse for these business owners is that their industries, such as restaurants, hospitality and recreation, are going to take longer to recover than other industries. Purchases in these industries are also not typically able to be stockpiled, according to the Telegraph.

While Walzer supports reopening the state, he said it could open the opportunity for another coronavirus outbreak in Illinois. 

“The health care facilities in rural areas really are not as strong as in metro areas, and some of the hospitals, a significant number actually, are not doing that well financially,” he told the Telegraph.

But Walzer told the Telegraph there's still hope for rural areas because any financing or local investors can make a cooperative limited liability company. He also said it can create a nonprofit as well, which can greatly help rural areas. 

“The people in the smaller communities, the older people, are really interested in being involved, so a lot of them are participating in managing the store and various activities,” he told the Telegraph. “It’s kind of a social capital kind of thing.”