Thanks, Walter.
Great work. 👍

Interesting thesis, and no doubt part of the story. But the more direct correlation that is completely left out of this analysis is the testing.

As of a couple days ago, NYC represented 30% of all testing done in the U.S. Surprise!

And the intellectual lemmings continue on at breakneck speed for the cliff.....

When I lived in New York City, I was disconcerted and frightened by the mandated interdependence resulting from heavy traffic and absence of parking spaces that necessitated low personal inventory, absence of storage space for tools necessitating calling for handyman help instead of doing one's own repairs, and forced use of mass transit among other things. Being more intelligent than average and being at the mercy of people who predictably make stupid mistakes was terrifying. It still is.

I see no coincidence at all. NYC is a major international travel hub and a boiling pot of people from all over this world all living like termites one on top of another. A real petri dish where a virus can flourish quickly. I live 90 miles NW of NYC and we do have some confirmed cases here with all traced right back to residents and second home owners traveling to and from the NYC metro area. Some counties mid state have no confirmed cases Yet.

Is it any wonder that people want to move AWAY FROM cities? My county of over 1/2 million people has only 30+ cases and no deaths from coronavirus. We have just enough of the benefits of civilization with almost none of the problems. It would be nice to have join in Brenner's Gulch, but ... you'd have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

My guess ... a lot of New Yorkers went to Mardi Gras ... just a guess.

I like how the libs say "Trump isn't doing enough." Then he talks of an enforceable quarantine". Then Cuomo says, "I don't like the sound of that."

Haha!!!

To me, it is an example of the way economic intervention brings about unintended consequences.
Of course, all actions have some unintended consequences. But economic intervention is:
1. Forced on people who then must take the consequences,
2. On a broader scale than any private action and so with more catastrophic consequences,
3. Imposed by politicians who usually don't have to live with the consequences,
4. Frequently the only or overwhelming action on a given type, or in a given area, and so, when consequences are negative, there are few offsetting consequences of alternative and better actions.

NYC has been the victim of a socialist wannabe ideology for decades, all in the same direction, and cumulative and interaction in its effect. Now, along came the "perfect storm" to deliver on the city the unintended consequences of cumulative destructive housing policies.

An earlier and less cataclysmic consequences for the population at large has been homelessness.

It is easy to see that NYC has far more cases of Covid-19 than its population alone would predict, or, more truly, Texas cities have far fewer. One consideration is the exponential growth of an epidemic: twice the population, forty times the infections. But the major premise is easy to support: the physical demography of the City is the aggravating agency.

New York City Population 18 million
(Metro area 21 million)
Covid-109 cases 40,900 (31 March)

Houston area:
1,266 cases
12 dead
168 recovered
(31 March Fox News 26)

Population 7 million
2020 Estimate 2.4 million for the city proper
The City of Houston does not have zoning but development is governed by codes that address how property can be subdivided. The City codes do not address land use.-- Oct 1, 2018
Planning and Development - City of Houston
https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/De...

Corona Virus Cases Metropolitan Dallas-Ft. Worth
Total Population 7.5 million
Dallas Dallas - 549
North Suburbs Collin - 160
Northwest Suburbs Denton County 191
Fort Worth Tarrant County - 161
Dallas Metro total case: 1061 (31 March)

That all being as it may, a better comparison would be a metropolis of 20 million that does not have zoning laws, if one could be found. Alternately, it would have to be demonstrated that the virus originated in Wuhan (versus Beijing or Shanghai or Hong Kong) because of Wuhan's zoning laws. In fact, the Houston suburb of The Woodlands has strict zoning laws. It was planned by fracking entrepreneur George P. Mitchell to be an ecological haven for the wealthy. It is not so much how many laws you have, but what kind.

Well-written and insightful. Thanks!

The big areas of infection seem to be in wiidly liberal areas. I cant help but think its got something to do with their widly leftist and globalist ideas, along with stupidly prioritizing things that are unimportant, like the size of fast food drink cups

"Gov. Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio have supported and furthered every possible policy described above. They and their leftist Democratic Party predecessors bear the chief responsibility for the city’s vulnerability to this tragedy."

Of course. It was easy to predict what will happen in case of an epidemic.

It is also easy to predict how the Libtard "leaders" are trying to shift blame to the president.

Tough luck guys. Nobody expects you to learn anything from it. Your brains are not set up to do that.