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Visitors to the western end of Fire Island are greeted by a large sign telling them to “Stop, turn around, go back.”

In bold, red letters, the sign proclaims that the island’s residential areas are “closed to visitors” and that it has “No restrooms, no open business, no medical facility.”

In fact, visiting Fire Island is not banned — a resident put up the unofficial sign — but it is strongly discouraged by local officials who fear that outsiders might bring the coronavirus to this 32 mile-long barrier island east of New York City, accessible mainly by ferry from mainland Long Island.

Like many summer vacation areas, the region’s island communities have looked with trepidation at the encroaching virus and the visitors who might be carrying it with them. But the islands have been especially adamant about avoiding possible exposure from newcomers; the isolation that makes them so charming also makes them terrible places to fall ill.

Though their county, Suffolk, has become a virus hot spot, Fire Island, Shelter Island, Fishers Island each have had few or no documented cases. The same goes for Block Island, just beyond New York waters in Rhode Island.

And the islands, of course, want to keep it that way, fearful that an outbreak that would overwhelm their bare-bones, off-season medical and emergency rescue services.

Fishers Island, Shelter Island and Block Island each have one full-time doctor covering the island. Fire Island has no such setup.