In one of the last places to likely see coronavirus, disaster prep is a way of life
SHELLEY, Idaho - It was January when David Gillmore went to Home Depot for face masks before logging onto Amazon, where he bought a plastic sign that read, "DANGER: KEEP OUT QUARANTINE."
There were no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. at the time, and, at 61, he was healthier than ever, having recently lost dozens of pounds on a potato-based diet.
But Gillmore and his wife, Sue, have been preparing for a disaster for decades. They were certain that store shelves would empty as danger spread. They stuffed the masks in the basement, next to hundreds of rolls of toilet paper and dozens of cans of fruit and boxed grains neatly arranged on chrome wire shelves.
They held hands and prayed, they said, thinking over words from the 19th-century scripture that guides them: "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."
Shelley, a town of 4,409 in southeastern Idaho between the Snake River and Blackfoot Mountains, is likely to be among the last places to know the coronavirus. Less than two square miles, the village of
