Culture
Are Suburbs Safer From Coronavirus? Probably Not.
Urban density does play a role in disease transmission. But rural areas and suburban sprawl aren’t necessarily safer spaces to ride out the Covid-19 crisis.
Alexis Kaiser always planned on renting out the house that came with the 250-acre Oklahoma farm that she and her husband bought in 2015. Her sister thought the idea would never work — 65 miles from the nearest airport, the three-bedroom split-level house seemed too remote.
But the listing fared well on Airbnb. Now Kaiser is tapping into a new strain of social anxiety in order to hit it bigger. As cases of a respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus spread throughout the U.S., Kaiser is advertising her abode as a “Covid-19 Safe House” on Craigslist in cities with large infection clusters.