Hacker News Reader

Comment by MiroF | Hacker News Reader

I find it particularly odd given that the reason Cuomo is in the spotlight is because his state has done so so poorly, even compared to areas with similar density.

View on HN

What would you have had New York do differently without the support of the federal government?

Can the state government close airports and prevent flights from Europe landing in NYC?

No but the Feds have already shipped supplies, built hospitals and closed travel to China & Europe.

NYC has the economy of some small countries and they do have the backing of the Fed, no matter what excuses Cuomo gives.

They could have started pushing social distancing measures earlier. Also, they might not be able to close airports on their own but if I am not mistaken screening and quarantining is something they could have started enforcing(or more strictly if they were already doing it).

Require masks in enclosed public places.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any area in the US has "similar density" to NYC

OK, correcting you since you're wrong: It's not just New York City that's done badly, but smaller cities and areas of upstate New York that are quite similar to large parts of the rest of the country (that have done comparatively better).

> OK, correcting you since you're wrong: It's not just New York City that's done badly, but smaller cities and areas of upstate New York that are quite similar to large parts of the rest of the country (that have done comparatively better).

If by upstate NYC you mean Westchester County, that's still largely affected by the spread of the virus in NYC given how interlinked the two communities are.

Going by https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/new-york-coronav..., NYC is the most affected per capita, with Westchester placing #3

Basically, yes (technically it's #6): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

And the 5 above it are the same metro area.

Yeah, but the truth is in what you don't say. The top 8 density areas were all NYC metro area, all of them small small population cities (<70k) except for NYC at #6 with over 8,000,000 population!

I think for various reasons that population density metric does a bad job of capturing density as a metric relevant to infectious diseases. The percent of the population that uses public transportation is a probably a more relevant metric, and in NYC that might be over 100%, since so many non-residents use it.

San Francisco is around 60% of the density of NYC. Outside of the US, cities like Taipei, Hong Kong, and Seoul are all similarly densely populated and have largely avoided the problems that have befallen New York due to quick responses and smart planning.

Yes, NYC had factors that made it particularly susceptible in a global pandemic of Covid-19: (1) high density (as you say), (2) lots of international travel to and from NYC, (3) heavily used public transit (covid virus lifespan on metal surfaces -- like poles people hang on to in subway trains -- is long).

Not to mention the fact that the American people were advised not to wear masks...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com