In Scotland at least, the "outsiders go home" mentality is largely rooted in concern about level of resources available in the area to deal with Covid-19 cases.

In Scotland at least, the "outsiders go home" mentality is largely rooted in concern about level of resources available in the area to deal with Covid-19 cases. The highlands region in scotland (which has ~300k people not counting temporary residents) had < 20 beds and ventilators suitable for people suffering serious cases. There's also long distances to anything resembling a hospital and few general practitioners. The simple fact is that cities, which have most of the people, are best suited to treating people and if a load of cases start coming up in places like the highlands, it will very quickly overwhelm the limited resources available.