CS inititally grew through communities like hitchhikers, bicycle travelers, Rainbow Gathering hippies and other alternative demographics. For people driven by wanderlust and keen for a sense of community with other sympathetic people, government-enforced COVID travel restrictions may compel them to stay put for a while, but the virus itself won't put them off traveling and hosting for long. No one wants to give up on an entire lifestyle and peer group, and they are used to budgeting on the basis of spending relatively little on accommodation when they are on the road.

Plus, hitchhikers and cycle-tourers are used to thinking about statistics, because their travel habits involve some measure of risk, and so, as horrific as some anecdotal accounts of COVID are, they are unlikely to fear the virus so much.