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For the last month, I’ve been trying to figure out why New York and Seattle fared so different in the pandemic. The result came out today in @NewYorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/04/seattles-leaders-let-scientists-take-the-lead-new-yorks-did-not
Seattle was the first epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. But by mid-April, New Yorkers were dying at six times the rate of Washington State residents.
One reason: Seattle followed the communications advice of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a division of the CDC.
Whereas in New York, politicians led communications – and often dispensed bad advice.
Even as it was clear the pandemic was moving through New York, mayor Bill de Blasio and governor Andrew Cuomo kept fighting with each other.
And de Blasio kept repeating suggestions that health officials had told him were wrong.
It got so bad that some of de Blasio’s health officials said they would resign if the mayor didn’t order social distancing more quickly and start giving better advice.
Seattle, on the other hand, moved fast and put communications in scientists’ hands – making public health official Dr. Jeff Duchin into an unlikely celebrity.
New Yorkers stayed strong in their own fashion:
Eventually, New York instituted social distancing rules as strict as Seattle’s. But because New York moved slower and communications were more muddled, it took longer to impact how New Yorkers behaved.
As a result, more people died.
I hope you’ll read the piece – which was guided and edited by the inestimable Daniel Zalewski and fact checked by Teresa Mathew ( @_teamat) and Dennis Zhou. (Dennis’s parents, incidentally, are EIS officers.)
You can find the story here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/04/seattles-leaders-let-scientists-take-the-lead-new-yorks-did-not
