New York and Hong Kong are comparable in many ways, starting with their size:
-
About 8.4 million people live in New York,
-
in Hong Kong there are around 7.5 million.
Because of the high price of land, building is high, the citizens live close together:
–
-
Hong Kong has an average of 7100 people per square kilometer,
-
New York City even more than 10,000.
You get close, it is practically impossible to keep your distance in full elevators and subways. And yet Covid-19 hit the two world metropolises differently:
-
50 days after the 100th case was registered there, New York City had 169,690 infections, more than the whole of Germany today.
-
At the same time, Hong Kong was just above the smallest German state, Bremen, with 1,025 cases.
As of today, 19,174 New Yorkers have died of Covid-19, the number of deaths in Hong Kong is four. How did these drastic differences come about?
–
Both cities are highly developed economic centers, which should generally promote disease control. In contrast, their status as hubs for international trade and transport makes them particularly vulnerable during the pandemic: Both cities have important container ports and airports that serve as hubs for major airlines.
In 2018, New York City received more than 65 million visitors, compared to 56 million in Hong Kong. Any newcomer can potentially introduce the virus. The People’s Republic of China, the place where the epidemic broke out, is not only closely connected to Hong Kong – but also to New York, home to the largest Chinese community outside of Asia, which, according to the US statistics agency, already had a good 570,000 members in 2014. But although the starting conditions were similar, the pandemic took a very different course in the two cities.
–
Hong Kong recorded its first two Covid-19 cases on January 23, the day Wuhan was sealed off. Those in charge in Hong Kong remembered the Sars epidemic of 2003. The result: a mood of alarm. The authorities tested extensively, isolated infected people and quarantined newcomers. Schools were closed, major events canceled and border crossings gradually prevented until the government finally only allowed Hong Kong citizens to enter at the end of March.
–
According to Study published in the journal “Lancet” To this day, 99 percent of Hong Kong residents wear face masks when they leave their homes. Such changes in everyday behavior have also made it possible to avoid a comprehensive lockdown.
–
New York didn’t register its first case until early March. However, the virus had been rampant in the city for several weeks, according to scientists have established in retrospect. Due to a lack of tests, this was initially not noticed. Although US President Donald Trump had imposed an entry ban on people who had been in China in the 14 days before, it was travelers from Europe who introduced the pathogen.
Compared to other badly affected US cities, New York also instructed its citizens at a relatively late stage to stay at home. When the number of cases skyrocketed, the health system was unable to cope with the onslaught of sick people. The great social differences in the city also had a fatal effect.
–
New York was also fatal when one of the early infected turned out to be a so-called super spreader. The man from the town of New Rochelle infected more than 100 other people. Too many failures in New York came quite simply: bad luck.
–
