1. One of the least intelligent things I've seen re: my still staying at home despite my state opening up is the suggestion that the small rural county I live in didn't have all THAT many coronavirus cases, so maybe I'm overreacting. So let me talk about that for a second. https://twitter.com/scalzi/status/1263596306682925056

2. Yes, Darke county, where I live, had relatively few coronavirus cases, with deaths mostly in nursing homes. I want to thank our governor and his health advisor for taking the problem seriously and taking measures (relatively) early to slow the spread. It worked pretty well!

3. However, the virus is NOT contained, and rural counties are not inherently immune to its transmission. One of the most common vectors of infection in rural areas, as an example: Church. https://www.axios.com/cdc-arkansas-church-coronavirus-outbreak-fb265e5a-5db7-4ace-9bc4-098e0d09e7fd.html

4. Nor are rural areas usually somehow cut off from the rest of the world -- we travel around like other people do, frequently to other counties (my village is literally in two counties!) and other states. There are a lot of truckers who live in my little village, for example.

5. Hell, given my usual travel schedule, *I* could have potentially been a huge infection vector -- I was in New York, LA *and* on a cruise before a lockdown. "Rural" does not mean "immobile." People get around and see all sorts of other folks.

6. Also, I live in a conservative area, and conservative media has consistently politicized and downplayed the severity of coronavirus and the efficacy of preventive measures. This potentially has an effect on future transmission of the virus in an area like this.

7. (To be clear, you don't have to be a conservative to believe dimwitted things about the virus OR to be a jerk and take reasonable steps not to infect others. But the conservative disinformation campaign offers a compounding effect to the underlying "jerk" level.)

8. It's great that my little rural county has -- so far! -- not been a hotspot for coronavirus. I would love for it to remain so. But as they say in financial markets, past performance is not indicative of future results. And, ready or not, we're opening up again.

9. I worry that people, here and elsewhere, will think "opening up" is the same as "danger is over." But to repeat: the virus is not contained, it's still very easily transmittable, and we still don't have vaccines or treatment. It kills a lot, and significantly damages more.

10. All of which is why I still intend to stay at home, even in a rural county that (to date) has not had that many cases. We are not immune, and wishing it, or thinking this has passed us over, won't make it so. I want my neighbors safe. Part of that is me staying put.

/end