How where we are affects our view of the virus - and how this will change as we head south. There are a few things we’ve been able to do while in Vermont that will not feel safe in the slightest when we get to Virginia.

The New York Times, in their daily newsletter, had a short write up on Vermont’s virus response. While COVID is spiraling more out of control in rural areas as opposed to urban ones, our new state stands in stark contrast to this trend. The couple of reasons cited by the Times? 1) It’s not a partisan thing up here. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, has treated this seriously from the beginning, from mask-wearing to lock downs to quarantine restrictions. Leadership matters, apparently. 2) There is a high degree of “social trust” in Vermont. I’m not familiar with this term, but to me it means kind of the same thing it does in the cruising community. There’s an inherent understanding that we are all in this together. Wearing a mask helps your neighbor - and who doesn’t want to help their neighbor? 3) Two of the major media outlets in the state shut down comments on their sites, which helped sharply reduce the spread of misinformation.

Essex County, where we are in the far northeast corner of the state, has recorded exactly 6 cases (and zero deaths) of coronavirus in total since the outbreak began. Sure, this is in a county, area 675 square miles, with a total population of 6250, so it’s not like we’re a bustling metropolis. Still. The last case was noted in June, if I have my records right.

We’ve relaxed our standards a bit for sure. We’ll happily go into a store together, masked up. I’m hitting the grocery about every week, instead of 3-6 weeks between trips. We even had people over for dinner the other night, inside. Yikes! (They’ve lived up here since late May, and are as cautious as we are. Still, the Averill bubble is real.) My parents, also Vermont residents, regularly come spend the weekend. We can sometimes forget there’s a virus out there.

Virginia will be another situation entirely. Middlesex County (population 10,769, 211 square miles), where we’re going, has had 143 cases and 11 deaths. This is what we’re looking at:

• No more casual trips to the store. I predict more online orders, more long-term provisioning practice. And no more joint shopping expeditions.

• Outside socializing only. Masked. Or really far apart. We have good friends who live in Deltaville, and yes we want to see them. But their lives are more connected to the outside world as a matter of course; they can’t do their jobs remotely, for starters.

• Back to glove-wearing. More intense precautions.

Everyone has different levels of risk tolerance, to say nothing of differing levels of required interactions. We’re lucky in that Jeremy works remotely. That neither child is at home. That we are fairly socially isolated by nature. For some, our precautions will seem over the top. For others, they’ll be too lax.

In any case, life is about to change in more ways than one.