Esmeralda County in Nevada, Loving County in Texas and Skagway in Alaska have had no COVID-19 cases.
They are Esmeralda County in Nevada, Loving County in Texas and Skagway in Alaska, which uses the term “boroughs’’ rather than “counties.’’.
When King County in Texas registered the first coronavirus infection among its approximately 280 inhabitants Tuesday, those three counties were left as the final pieces of unbroken resistance to the virus.
“The policies we’ve relaxed have allowed people to transmit the virus because they’re not wearing masks, they’re not social distancing, they’re gathering in large groups, they’re going to football games, they’re attending political rallies and creating superspreader events that carry the virus on to a new destination.’’.
Even while avoiding the virus, Skagway has paid a steep price.
Borough manager Brad Ryan said most of the residents are receiving assistance checks from a reserve fund, and the municipality “would be in dire, dire straits’’ if it lost another tourist season.
The additional 1,200 jobs usually created by the influx of cruise travelers from mid-spring through the summer disappeared this year, and along with them the 2,000 temporary residents who normally triple the size of Skagway for several months.
That last preventive measure has been particularly hard, said Ryan, who worries about how the borough will continue to dodge the virus as the approaching cold weather forces people indoors.
Depending on where they live in the county, residents may be more than 100 miles from the nearest hospital, making it imperative that they steer clear of the virus
Esmeralda Sheriff Ken Elgan said the few markets and businesses in the county have followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and residents have been wearing masks when going out in public
“Our people have worked really hard, on their own basically, to stay COVID-19-free,’’ said Elgan, whose county has drawn interest recently from media outlets
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