Two Rite Aid locations are closing in the city limits of Baltimore and four more are shutting their doors in Maryland after the company filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

The Rite Aids shutting down in Baltimore are in the Brooklyn and West Hills areas, two neighborhoods that are known as low-income.

The closures bring up issues of pharmacy deserts in the city, as large drugstore retailers have downsized brick-and-motor locations since the pandemic, especially in low income neighborhoods.

“Pharmacies bring a series of services to communities that go beyond the simple dispensing of medicines,” said Mariana Socal, an associate scientist at the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The drug stores provide vaccinations, medical supplies and other necessary products for the surrounding public.

“When these pharmacies close the biggest impact is affordability of drugs,” Socal said. “Patients have to pay more to get transportation to a different place to get not a visit to their provider to change the prescription, or to pay more out of pocket because the new pharmacy is not in their network.”

Baltimore currently has 58 pharmacies, however, some are consolidated in some neighborhoods and leave others with a dearth of drugstores.

The closures come as CVS and Walgreen’s pharmacy workers are considering going on strike on Nov. 1, which could further reduce access.