“Make the Decision to Stay Off the Island”: With the Virus Bearing Down, It’s Nantucketers Versus the Rich Summer Crowd.
Nantucket has approximately 10,000 year round residents. In the summer months the population swells to 50,000. The well healed are rapidly fleeing population centers, such as New York City and Los Angeles, for weekend homes in the countryside, away from other people. The Hamptons, on Long Island, or the islands off the East Coast of the United States are teeming with as much life in mid-March as they usually are in mid-July.
On March 17, there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the island. This is good because there is only one small community hospital. Nantucket has limited medical resources and a surge of cases could quickly overwhelm the hospital. If people start panicking and want to leave, the options are limited to occasional ferries and flights. The private-jet crowd, can always come and go as they please.