By the time the coronavirus reached Hillsdale, Michigan, the town’s only hospital knew what to expect. For weeks, Hillsdale Hospital had watched Detroit’s healthcare system struggle to fight the first wave of COVID-19. This was, in a sense, an advantage, said Dr. Nichole Ellis, a pediatric doctor who sits on Hillsdale Hospital’s board, because it helped the rural hospital prepare for the coming pandemic. And the pandemic did come, but not before Hillsdale Hospital had established a system detailing how it would treat coronavirus cases while protecting the health of other patients in the hospital as well as the health of its staff members. Elective surgeries were postponed or canceled altogether. Personal protective equipment was made available. And nurses and doctors were warned about longer hours — a burden many accepted willingly. So, when the hospital admitted its first coronavirus patient in mid-March, Hillsdale was ready. Indeed, the guidance the hospital issued was so effective that it managed to prevent patient-to-patient, patient-to-employee, and/or employee-to-employee transmission entirely, according to the hospital’s incoming CEO, J.J. Hodshire. But the catastrophic surge that many in Hillsdale had feared never quite materialized as it had in Detroit. The outbreak in the small town, which is home to about 8,000 people, remained confined to Hillsdale’s elderly population and its prison system, Ellis told me, totaling 118 confirmed cases as of April 28 and 16 deaths total. This was by no means...