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In reply to the discussion: All K-12 schools in Pennsylvania shut down for 2 weeks amid coronavirus outbreak [View all]BumRushDaShow
(128,455 posts)was that because they were "lightly populated", you had realtors and rental folks encouraging people to "flee" NY and North Jersey and stay there because it was nearly virus-free and not as crowded. It started with those counties like Luzerne, Lackawana, Monroe, and others that encompass the Poconos (with many vacation homes and resorts), resulting in them blowing up in numbers of cases to the point where they have been recording higher infection "rates" than here in Philly - most of it brought in by outsiders.
I agree that those counties, some with less than 10,000 - 15,000 in the whole county, could operate on some "tier" of a shutdown. But what has happened, which is what you saw happen in NJ - initially in North Jersey and now in South Jersey where people started "fleeing" to their shore homes to "ride it out", they brought the virus INTO those counties, "from the outside". I expect those upstate counties have hunting lodges and accommodations and that need to be something for county residents only.
So if those counties like Elk, etc. can maybe include checkpoints (hell, on this side of the state, both South Jersey and Delaware are stopping vehicles with PA tags), then they can limit bringing more infection into those areas that currently don't have the virus circulating endemically.
And yes, they are trying to keep the infection spread down so as to not overwhelm the already broken hospital system. The rural areas with more elk than people, would be impacted the most just due to the lack of hospitals that ultimately brings those folks into the cities to get care.