I have a friend who likes to comment on this column. He says the COVID-19 virus is a hoax cooked up by the media and Democrats who want to defeat the incumbent president. He sends me lots of numbers he says prove his point. I like him. He is a good guy.

I think he is wrong. I choose to believe the experts and scientists who track these things for a living. I choose to believe the health care professionals who say nearly 100,000 Americans have lost their lives due to complications from the virus. I choose experts and world leaders who tell us the virus is racing around the world.

But, and it is a big but, none of us can predict the future, not political leaders and their experts, not our friends in the pulpit, not even the allegedly all powerful force my friend calls “the media.”

For example, who in the world would have predicted that Tom Brady would move to Florida? Or that the Red Sox would think of trading Mookie Betts? Who would have believed we would have a Memorial Day weekend without crowds large and small cheering as old vets march behind “Old Glory” to honor the heroes who didn’t come home?

Just 12 weeks ago, our friends in Boothbay, Wiscasset and Damariscotta were preparing for a banner summer season.

All the signs pointed to cars and buses filled with smiling faces who couldn’t wait to eat a lobster, take a boat ride, peek at the flowers at CMBG and take a photo at one of our iconic lighthouses like Pemaquid Point or Burnt Island. As the moon rose over Ocean Point, they would settle into one of our fine hotels, and enjoy a tasty meal just hours after our intrepid fishermen hauled it from the sea.

Sure, the influx brings change, but all understand we need their dollars to fund our economy and that means jobs for us at restaurants, hotels, groceries and even shops that sell fuzzy red lobsters.

About this time, other folks, many following their parents and, sometimes, their grandparents, called summer people, move back into shorefront cottages and summer homes, some grand and some rustic. These summer friends hire our friends and neighbors to build new, or repair their cottages and tend their gardens. They pay property taxes that help fund our schools and government services. They are significant donors to churches and civic endeavors. In short, we need these folks.

Last weekend, the traditional beginning of the summer season, I wandered around the meandering streets, and saw lots of empty parking spots, few cars sporting license plates from away, and just a handful of wandering tourists. It was not a good sign, but there is hope.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran a story arguing that people who have been shut up in their homes for the last three months are more than eager for some new scenery. Because they are likely to avoid air travel, and with gas prices the lowest in recent memory, they are more than likely to drive to regional destinations.

That is good news for us as we are located just a few hours by car from major East Coast population centers. Because eager, but cautious vacationers want to avoid crowds, they are more likely to choose destinations like those available on our Maine coast, where they can be semi-isolated hiking our forest trails, climbing seashore ledges and wandering flower-filled gardens.

Because out of state visitors are encouraged to self-quarantine for 14 days, our hotels are encouraging in-state residents to come to the shore for a staycation. Initial reports say these efforts are beginning to show some interest.

At the same time, tourist associations are lobbying state officials to ease the 14-day quarantine in hopes of salvaging at least some of the summer tourist season. State leaders facing a pandemic and the resulting economic downturn are caught between a rock and a hard place. No matter what they do, they will face criticism.

But political leaders, experts and ordinary people like us can’t predict the future. Health care experts urge leaders to reopen with caution and advise us all to wear masks, wash our hands and maintain social distancing. Until a vaccine and treatments are invented, the virus is not under control.

In the meantime, the good news is that we are fortunate to live in a rural area where the numbers of cases and fatalities are much lower than those seen in population centers.

Our local businesses, like poker players, are betting that the next draw will bring them the card that will make their hand a winner.

If you open it, will they come? Will all be safe? We sure hope so.