The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has an interesting new report showing that New York Cityâs subway system was a major disseminator of COVID-19 during the coronavirusâ initial infection of the city during March 2020.
They show that subway ridership correlates directly with new cases, particularly in Queens. The near-shutdown of subway ridership in Manhattan (down by 90%) at the end of March correlates strongly with the reduction in the rate of increase in new cases in Queens thereafter.
They superimposed maps of subway station turnstile entries with zip code-level maps of reported coronavirus incidence. That showed Coronavirus propagation followed a process strongly consistent with subway riding. Moreover, local trains appeared to have a higher propensity to transmit infection than express trains, perhaps because people spent longer on those trains. Bus hubs served as secondary transmission routes out to the periphery of the city.
The subway was shut down because of staffing issues on March 25, not because the mayor or governor thought it was an important disease vector. Since then, at least 98 transit workers have died from coronavirus. On to cartoons.
Jogging in Georgia requires evasive tactics:
Trump did it again:
It never ends. On Fox and Friends, Trump said there is âno questionâ the video of the Ahmaud Arbery shooting is troubling. But, he hinted that further evidence might emerge that could possibly exculpate the shooters:
 âYou know, it could be something that we didnât see on tape. There could be a lot of â you know, if you saw things went off tape and then back on tapeâ
BTW, the NY Daily News reported that no burglaries had been reported for seven weeks before the shooting.
Small man sits near a great man:
America grows smaller as the president tries to make himself bigger, all the while failing at the actual mission of leading the Republic.
Pro-life doesnât get in the way of reopening:
The only animal Trump wants at the White House:
Dropping charges against Flynn looks partisan:
Another reason to stay indoors:
Funny about how the president thinks he looks stupid in a mask, in fact he looks stupid with his Mussolini grimace and sounds stupid nearly all the time.