[BostonCard]

To my knowledge, there have been no restrictions on the number of people who may use the subway in NYC during this shutdown.  The fact that ridership is down 92% shows that people don't need strict laws and rules to socially distance.  Most people will protect themselves when necessary.  I guess what rubs me raw is that the rest of the country is forced to socially distance under threat of jail, but in NYC you are free to decide for yourself whether it is safe to take the subway.  With no deaths in my county and very few cases, we queue up 6 feet apart to be allowed to enter a limited capacity Walmart or Home Depot.  At the same time you can sit elbow to elbow with a stranger on the NYC subway.  I just don't think they have done enough in NYC to slow the deaths.

I'm now confused.  I thought you felt that NY should have shut down the subway earlier, as that was the thrust of your first post.  Now you are arguing that the 92% reduction in ridership means that "people don't need strict laws and rules to socially distance".  These two arguments seem contradictory to me.

I think it is self-evident that local officials in NY did a very poor job, especially early in the pandemic. The numbers bear that out. They were slow to institute the shelter in place orders, and the mayor of NY was seen going to the gym on the very day he instituted SiP, undermining the very message he was sending (like Trump and Pence not wearing masks in areas where they should have been wearing masks).  On the other hand, once they did implement the SiP orders, they have been very effective in reducing the number of cases and deaths, in a way that much of the rest of the US hasn't done.  See, for example, this chart that I prepared for a different thread:



BC

[BostonCard]

To my knowledge, there have been no restrictions on the number of people who may use the subway in NYC during this shutdown.  The fact that ridership is down 92% shows that people don't need strict laws and rules to socially distance.  Most people will protect themselves when necessary.  I guess what rubs me raw is that the rest of the country is forced to socially distance under threat of jail, but in NYC you are free to decide for yourself whether it is safe to take the subway.  With no deaths in my county and very few cases, we queue up 6 feet apart to be allowed to enter a limited capacity Walmart or Home Depot.  At the same time you can sit elbow to elbow with a stranger on the NYC subway.  I just don't think they have done enough in NYC to slow the deaths.

I'm now confused.  I thought you felt that NY should have shut down the subway earlier, as that was the thrust of your first post.  Now you are arguing that the 92% reduction in ridership means that "people don't need strict laws and rules to socially distance".  These two arguments seem contradictory to me.

I think it is self-evident that local officials in NY did a very poor job, especially early in the pandemic. The numbers bear that out. They were slow to institute the shelter in place orders, and the mayor of NY was seen going to the gym on the very day he instituted SiP, undermining the very message he was sending (like Trump and Pence not wearing masks in areas where they should have been wearing masks).  On the other hand, once they did implement the SiP orders, they have been very effective in reducing the number of cases and deaths, in a way that much of the rest of the US hasn't done.  See, for example, this chart that I prepared for a different thread:



BC