As rural areas across the U.S. brace themselves against coronavirus, ski resort towns in particular are being hit with disproportionately high numbers of cases.

Harry Griffith, executive director of Sun Valley Economic Development in the heart of Idaho's ski country, told weather.com concerns over the coronavirus escalated at the same time his area was in the middle of the busy spring break season. That, combined with a wealthy population of people who own second homes there, meant there were large crowds in town.

“They obviously brought something with them and that’s resulted in community spread through a pretty small community,” Griffith said in a phone interview Tuesday.

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Sun Valley is in Blaine County, which has just 22,000 residents but 192 cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. That number is one of the highest per capita in the U.S., and accounts for about one-third of Idaho's cases statewide.

Sun Valley Resort shut down operations on March 16, about a month before the usual Easter Sunday closing, and told visitors to go home.

“We basically said we love you, but please stay away for now,” Griffith said.

Communities around other popular ski resorts including Utah's Park City, and Colorado's Crested Butte, Vail and Aspen have reported similar clusters of cases.

Like Sun Valley, those resorts and others across the country also ended their seasons early, cutting short the annual economic boost from spring break visitors.

“Basically we turned away half of our spring break business," Andrew Sandstrom, public information officer for incident command in Gunnison County, Colorado, told weather.com.

Gunnison County is home to Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Sandstrom said seasonal workers and small businesses rely on the springtime skiers to get them through “mud season,” the period between when the ski resorts normally close for the season and summer tourism takes off.

The county has 80 cases of COVID-19 among its approximately 16,900 residents. Sandstrom attributed the local outbreak to the same reasons it's happened in other resort areas.

“We have the high volume of travelers, not only is our economy based on tourism but many of the folks that live in our communities are well traveled and go far and wide and come home," he said.

But he also said the county had a strict testing protocol in the early weeks of the outbreak that resulted in positive results for nearly of all those tested. This is compared to larger counties across the U.S. that have barely tested anyone.

Small hospitals in some of the ski areas fear being overwhelmed. At least 14 of the cases in Blaine County are among health care workers, The Associated Press reported. The county's Wood River Medical Center has just two intensive care units and one ventilator. Much of the facility is closed, except for the walk-in clinic, emergency room and an outdoor coronavirus screening tent, hospital spokeswoman Joy Prudek told Boise State Public Radio.

Patients are being transported to larger hospitals as needed.

Brianna Bodily, spokesperson for the South Central Health District, which includes Blaine County, told weather.com that any place with people traveling in and out is more susceptible to an outbreak of contagious diseases like COVID-19. And from there, it spreads to other nearby communities.

“We have had cases already in other counties that have direct ties to Blaine County, so this is actually evidence that there has been transmission from Blaine County," Bodily said.

For that reason, residents have been encouraged not to travel outside the county lines, she said.

“There’s a lot of psychological concern among our populous," Bodily said.

“Of course the reality in our current situation is that it could come from anywhere."

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.