One thing that hasn’t changed since the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Idaho is that Blaine County has consistently been home to about half of all cases. I predicted this a couple months ago, but it didn’t take a lot of intuition or intelligence to make that prediction.
Blaine County is large in size but small in population. It is made up of several small towns, the largest being the county seat of Hailey, population roughly 8,000. I live about ten miles north of Hailey in Ketchum, population of roughly 3,000. The whole county has a population of about 22,000; in most places it would be considered rural, and there are definitely places where that still applies.
But we’re a more urban environment than even some of the population centers in Idaho thanks to being home to Sun Valley, a world class ski resort. On any given weekend during the peak seasons of summer and winter, Ketchum and Sun Valley can have as many as 40,000 people in hotels, restaurants, shops, buses, ski lifts, etc.
I love living here for a million reasons. One, it is a small town, so wherever I go I run into someone I know. I don’t have a ton of friends but I have a million acquaintances, and some days when I’m out on a walk or grocery shopping, that short “hey! how’s it going!” really lifts my spirits. We do favors for each other here on a regular basis. Short a few bucks for lunch? Don’t worry, it’s on the house. Credit card declining at the store? No worries, come back tomorrow with the cash.
The working class here takes good care of each other.
But we don’t have to sacrifice culture or other urban amenities to have that small town familiarity. In the Spring and Fall, when we go into slack and have the town to ourselves without the tourists, we still have public transportation, concerts, nightlife, locally owned restaurants, theaters, etc. And if we’re sick of civilization- which you have to be on some level at all times anyway if you live in Idaho- it’s a short drive to the wilderness.
(We recently sold our truck, and we had all of our camping equipment stored in it. So we transferred it to the back seat of our car and when I told people “that’s our summer house back there” they knew exactly what I meant.)
This is where I live.
And where I live is being absolutely killed by this virus.
I’m writing this mostly for posterity, but it might give those of you in places that haven’t been hit hard an idea of what might be coming.
