115. Social Capital

A friend sent me Christopher Ingraham’s February article from the Washington Post on “social capital.” 

“communities with high amounts of interconnectedness and communal trust — what experts call social capital — experienced less severe coronavirus outbreaks in 2020,” he says.

“In communities with large reserves of social capital, people trust their institutions and their neighbors. They belong to civic organizations such as churches, Elks clubs and bowling leagues. They help each other in times of crisis.”

Ingraham also notes that social capital is easier to find in rural areas. Of course! Wallowa County, once a Democratic bastion, voted for Trump; we have a number of Christian churches that are skeptical of liberal social tendencies; and we are definitely falling behind the nation and our own state in the percentage of people who are vaccinated. But we all get along in most ways with those politically, socially, and religiously different from us—because we share schools, sports teams, the ski run, Wallowa Lake, the rivers and mountains, Senior Meals, Safeway, the Grain Growers, Post Offices, doctors, a hospital. And we look out for each other when a house burns, cancer strikes a neighbor or the covid hits. 

It makes sense that our independent minded citizens, many with conservative and government skeptical views, are not jumping to a 70 percent vaccination rate. And that social capital accounts for our low rates of Covid infection and of Covid-related deaths. 

Add the fact we live and work outdoors more than those in the average American city or even small town, and it is increasingly clear that Covid infections are much less likely to travel in the great outdoors. We like our outdoors because there is a lot to like; most visitors come here because of it, and some people move here because of it! And now we have another reason—which we kind of knew all along: it is healthier.

In the end, although our vaccinations are not at 70 percent, we’re rural and outdoorsy, and well over 70 percent of us are civil and nice to each other.

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