Transmission between cities

I thought this New York Times article on how to stop the coronavirus made an important point that stopping transmission between cities is an important goal. The US is so large and varied in population density and other characteristics that the impact is going to be extremely uneven. If we’re not having all our large cities impacted in the same way at once, which so far has been the case, then federal, state, and regional resources can be better triaged to places with the greatest need.

This is what really struck me from the article: “In contrast to the halting steps taken here, China shut down Wuhan — the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak — and restricted movement in much of the country on Jan. 23, when the country had a mere 500 cases and 17 deaths. Its rapid action had an important effect: With the virus mostly isolated in one province, the rest of China was able to save Wuhan.”

The other important point they make about shutting things down is “..the weaker the freeze, the more people die in overburdened hospitals — and the longer it ultimately takes for the economy to restart.”