BRISTOL, Fla. – As Jessica Cherry watched traffic from her porch, she wondered with each passing vehicle if the coronavirus had made its way into her rural Florida Panhandle community.
For weeks, residents of Liberty County watched as infections spread, reaching into all of Florida's 67 counties but their own — the state's least populous — and worried about the devastating effect the coronavirus could have on their 8,300 people. “When you see somebody drive by, your anxiety level goes up with each passing car because you think: They’re going somewhere and get contaminated and they’ll be bringing it to us,” Cherry said.