
‘Escape communities’ are the newest hideaways from the pandemic - elorant
https://thehustle.co/03312020-escape-communities-retreats/
======
arethuza
The Scottish Government was pretty blunt:

 _“Let me be crystal clear – people should not be travelling to rural and
island communities, full stop. They are endangering lives. Do not travel.”_

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/scottish-
gover...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/21/scottish-government-
furious-at-travellers-to-highlands-and-islands)

I believe subsequently there were restrictions introduced so that only local
could travel out on ferries from the mainland - which seems pretty sensible to
me.

Edit: I live fairly close to one of the main roads north to the Highlands -
the last time I filled my car with petrol a couple of weeks back it was _very_
noticeable that there were a lot of people in campers and with caravans
heading north with their families.

~~~
growlist
I don't think either side comes out of this well. Rich folk fleeing to their
hideaways belies a kind of sociopathic contempt for the plight of their fellow
humans, who are indeed often the people they rely on for their livelihood. But
then the people from these communities are often quite happy to sell up and
pocket the London money being offered them for property, and often also to
reap the benefits of ever-increasing numbers of tourists, so it does seem to
me a little like some of the people in these communities are trying to have
their cake and eat it - and the 'outsiders go home!' attitude being voiced
isn't pretty. In other circumstances the left-wing media, Twitter etc. would
be screaming blue murder about narrow-minded xenophobia.

~~~
raesene9
In Scotland at least, the "outsiders go home" mentality is largely rooted in
concern about level of resources available in the area to deal with Covid-19
cases. The highlands region in scotland (which has ~300k people not counting
temporary residents) had < 20 beds and ventilators suitable for people
suffering serious cases.

There's also long distances to anything resembling a hospital and few general
practitioners.

The simple fact is that cities, which have most of the people, are best suited
to treating people and if a load of cases start coming up in places like the
highlands, it will very quickly overwhelm the limited resources available.

~~~
arethuza
At least the RAF is pre-positioning helicopters to the area and has been using
larger transport aircraft to move patients from places like Shetland. However,
those transport links could easily be overloaded given a full emergency.

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m4rtink
In my hometown, like in many central European towns is a plague column,
commemorating a deadly plague epidemics that happened in the 17th century. The
story goes that it was caused by the Habsburg royal court fleeing the plague
from Vienna & staying in the town for a few days before continuing onward.

Of course there were some people already infected in the royal court, the
infection spread to the town people as well and many died.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_and_Holy_Trinity_column...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_and_Holy_Trinity_columns)

~~~
op03
The Thai king with an entourage, has moved to some German town and rented out
a whole hotel. And the claim is members of the entourage that tested positive
were sent back to Thailand.

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luch
In my country the wealthy went ... in their summer house on the islands.

You know, the typical location which is usually not self-sufficient and
definitively not autonomous when it come to medical care facilities.

~~~
xfitm3
Theres nothing wrong with seeking comfort in this weird time. Even if you're
rich and have a house on an island.

~~~
throwanem
There's plenty wrong with being a damned fool, especially if your
damnfoolishness poses a real risk of harm to others.

~~~
exclusiv
How does driving to your second house pose a real risk?

~~~
throwanem
It shouldn't need explaining to anyone who's been paying attention at all for
the last two months, but: You can spend up to two weeks infected and
contagious before you start showing symptoms. So when you drive a long way,
from a place with lots of cases to a place with few or none, and then do stuff
like go to stores to get groceries or whatever the hell rich people do to open
up a vacation house that's been uninhabited for a while, you're quite likely
to be spreading the disease without realizing it. That's a favor to the virus,
but not so much to the townies of whatever picturesque vacation destination
you're gracing with your property taxes - and where hospital support is weaker
in any case than wherever you conceive of yourself as fleeing from, because
picturesque vacation destinations don't need much or any ICU resource most of
the time.

~~~
ryanianian
There is a way to do it safely: follow the same 14-day self-quarantine regimen
that's recommended for anyone who's traveled. Don't go to stores, don't go to
gas stations, pretend like there is nuclear fallout outside.

~~~
throwanem
I feel like that's a lot of benefit of the doubt on behalf of someone who's
already behaving selfishly, you know?

~~~
ryanianian
Sorry, but how is it selfish? If you can leave a dense area and self-
quarantine for 14 days, you're actually doing a net positive by reducing
density. The only added "risk" is that you might crash your car on the way.
That feels less bad than retransmitting the disease in a crowded area.

~~~
throwanem
You can just as effectively, maybe more effectively, self-quarantine _in_ a
dense area, and not risk any circumstance at all leading to transmission
elsewhere.

~~~
ryanianian
It is vastly easier to avoid casual contact in rural areas. Even going to get
my packages in my building I walk past people and touch elevator buttons etc.
In a rural area I just get my packages from my porch.

~~~
ghaff
And relatively few people are going to voluntarily stay confined to their
small city apartment for weeks. I live in a semi-rural house and I can easily
go out my door and walk in the woods for an hour or two. (Or drive somewhere
else quiet which I mostly haven't been doing.)

The only real contact I've had with people is having gone to the grocery store
a couple of times--and I could probably have used delivery for that (although
with the lack of stock, that might have been challenging).

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Loughla
So, I live in a rural area and own some acreage. While I firmly believe home
prices will tank in the next year, I also firmly believe secluded property
that is still accessible will see a value increase.

I'm just far enough away from a city center to be inconvenient for people to
just come here, but close enough that if you have a reason, it's not terrible.

And I bet I have a shitload of new neighbors after this when the local
'wealthy' folks try to get out of town.

Don't know what all that means, just something I've been thinking of this
week.

~~~
ghaff
I do wonder if it will cause any shift in the current fashion for urban living
among certain demographics. After all, it doesn't need to be a huge change
percentage-wise at the margin to have a big effect. After all, the current
urbanization trend is relatively small in terms of the overall numbers.

And there are lot of places--even though not really in the Bay Area--where you
can get to at least semi-rural places while still being within an hour or so
of a major city. (And really in the country within 2 or 3 hours.)

~~~
Loughla
Honestly, I don't think it will change the urban living trend. Those folks
tend to be younger and looking for a certain type of lifestyle, regardless of
the health and safety impacts. That lifestyle just doesn't exist out here. Our
'fun' revolves around standing or sitting around talking for hours on end.

My spouse jokes that you need to factor in an extra 2 hours to any small
errand just for the bullshitting sessions that will inevitably accompany.

I'm guessing this will be older, wealthier folks moving out here. Maybe that's
too myopic for my area, though - there's not really any employment areas
offering big money for younger folks like tech does.

One thing to remember, when you live in a city, there are things to do and
people around. Out here, you either make your own fun (everyone has a hobby of
some kind - the three of us within 1 mile of each other do machining,
woodworking, and blacksmithing respectively), or you leave to go somewhere
else.

It is a hard transition for folks not used to it. The boredom and isolation
are real. It took my wife (Chicago city native) about two years to get used to
how loud it is here at night due to all of the animals and insects, while it's
absolutely quiet at the same time because of no people. She still (12 years
later) has problems with feelings of isolation.

~~~
mumblemumble
Former country kid here, but inching my way toward having spent half my life
living in urban areas.

My sense is that a population-level trend toward country living simply can't
happen. There are too many people, and they can't all move out to the country
without causing it to not be the country anymore.

The difference over the past couple decades in the are where my mom lives is
stark. Night isn't noisy anymore, because, thanks to land developers, all the
wildlife has been crowded out by McMansions. Growing up, we roamed an area of
quite a few square miles on foot and on bike. Nowadays I'm not sure I'd let my
kids do that, because there are just so many more people blasting down the
road in their Audis while fiddling with CarPlay.

~~~
toss1
Yup, grew up in rural-ish burb, lived in VT, spent many, many, many miles on
my road bike, both workouts, point-point rides, and racing.

But traffic has changed so much that I haven't been on it in years, so my Mtn
bike & trail running shoes get all the action

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yardie
I have some friends currently cruising on a boat. They are stuck. The island
is on lockdown so they can’t leave for another destination, can’t leave the
boat because they are quarantined. And can’t even resupply because they aren’t
clear to land. They have provisions for a few weeks, can make their own water
and electricity. But once the former runs out they aren’t sure what they are
going to do.

It was a reminder that even when you are at sea you are still dependent on
those ground based resources no matter where you are.

~~~
m4rtink
I guess they should start lerning ocean fishing.

Like, seriously. The biggest issue for shipwreck survivors has always been
drinking water and exposure. Looks like they don't have a problem with either,
so as long as they can catch some edible fish they should be fine in
principle.

~~~
yardie
Most liferafts will have a small fishing kit as part of the survival kit.

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dreen
This is stupid on so many levels. Not only you're potentially spreading the
virus further but you're now in a place from which it is difficult to get to a
hospital if you do need it.

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panzagl
There's a reason Colorado's highest number of cases per capita are in the
mountain counties, and it has nothing to do with the locals.

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cafard
There is an item in today's Washington Post opinion page by a commissioner of
Tillamook County, Oregon, complaining of just this.

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_curious_
Was actually thinking about this scenario whereby the US becomes divided
between those CV19 pos vs. neg. Or insert whatever the next major pandemic
will be.

~~~
thinkingemote
I think we will see the next genuine counter culture formed because of this.

It's most likely to be young people and what's amusing is that we will be the
squares this time around!

