A successful travel ban applied early on, with no exceptions, might have kept the medical and economic catastrophe of the Wuhan Virus at bay. The pandemic has followed the path of the travelers in this country and, after having taken off in wealthy international cities, is continuing to follow their path across the country, even when headed into seemingly rural areas.

Rural counties in Colorado, Utah and Idaho are also reporting some of the highest rates of coronavirus cases per capita in the nation, threatening to overwhelm local hospitals.

Four counties – Blaine County, Idaho; Summit County, Utah; and Eagle County and Gunnison County, Colorado – lead the nation in per capita rates of confirmed cases outside New York and Louisiana, according to a USA Today analysis.

Though rural, the areas are all affluent, mountain-ringed ski and hiking hamlets that see millions of visitors each year.

Blaine County, with a population of 23,021, had 82 cases and two deaths, or 356 cases per 100,000 people. Local officials believe the virus came to the area with winter visitors to the county’s famous Sun Valley ski resorts.

In Summit County, home to the Sundance Film Festival, where the population is 42,145, there have been 103 cases and zero deaths, or 244 cases per 100,000. The virus first appeared a popular watering hole called the Spur Bar & Grill, on Park City’s Main Street, at the height of the city’s busy spring ski season, when an employee who later tested positive for the virus exposed perhaps several hundred employees and patrons.

Chinese tourism happens in places you don’t expect. But a lot of this is probably secondary and tertiary stuff. Including from tourists coming out of New York and California.