Can We Afford NYC?

Writing at PJ Media, Tyler O’Neil asks the question, how much do the hot cluster of Covid-19 cases in greater New York City skew the number for the U.S.? The short answer: A lot.

The vast majority of U.S. coronavirus cases either happened in the Tri-State Area or came from the Tri-State Area.

If the New York City area were its own country, it would rank high at the top, both for cases per million and for deaths per million. In terms of coronavirus cases per million, America drops to eighth place without the New York City area.

In terms of deaths per million, New York City again blows other countries out of the water — and without the New York City area deaths, America no longer ranks in the top ten.

And O’Neil concludes evidence shows most cases in the rest of the U.S. arrived there by people leaving NYC. As Instapundit reminded us recently, in a pandemic density and mass transit are killers, and NYC is our poster child for both.

Highly contagious, dangerous respiratory illnesses erupt out of China on a once-every-decade schedule. Can we afford to have an ‘open sore’ like New York City as a magnet, a virtual ‘invitation’ to every contagion that comes along? Or is it too great a risk?