The article says that the outbreak actually started near the Utah-Arizona border, specifically the western half of that border. Due to a little thing called the Grand Canyon, the Arizona side of that has terrible road links and no population center comparable even to southwestern Utah, which is already isolated from the center of power by simple distance and sparse population. This has made it prime territory for the polygamist fundamentalist Mormons. If this person is connected to that community, they may have interesting reasons, good or bad, for not wanting to be traced.