NEW YORK: New York has more coronavirus cases than any country and accounts for around half of all deaths in the United States. Why was is so badly hit and could its leaders have done anything differently?
As of Friday, New York state has almost 160,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections, more than Europe’s worst-hit countries of Spain and Italy, and over 7,800 deaths.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has said repeatedly that density and number of foreign visitors made New York City, which has almost 93,000 confirmed cases, an ideal breeding ground for infectious disease.
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America’s financial capital has 8.6 million inhabitants. There are 10,000 people per square kilometer, making it the densest city in the US.
Millions of commuters brush up against each other on its packed subway system every day, while keeping distance on its sometimes narrow sidewalks can be difficult.
NYC gets more than 60 million tourists a year and is the entry point to America for many travelers, meaning anyone carrying the virus is likely to start infecting others there first.
American geneticists estimate that it started spreading there from Europe in February, before New York’s first confirmed case on March 1.
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The Big Apple is also characterized by massive socioeconomic inequality.
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