| | | As to New York, my hypothesis is the following:
* we all know that New York hospitals have been underfunded and mismanaged for a very long time. Massachusetts is the exact opposite and their death rate is FAR lower. I used to live in the Bay Area 20 years ago and I remember they had a very good health care system. I don't know if it has deteriorated since my tech worker days, but California used to have good hospitals.
* New York has a lot of old and unhealthy people, who were already at high risk. In fact, it's estimated that 95% of the deaths are in exactly those categories. Californians, especially Bay Area folks tend to be a lot more into eating right and staying healthy. The tech workers I used to work with were particularly health conscious. It's true that programmers can be terribly unhealthy, but everyone around those geniuses tended to spend a lot of time on their health. So I'd have to bet Californians are more healthy and YOUNGER than New Yorkers, on average, which may also contribute to a lower COVID death rate.
* Governor Newsome, although a Democrat, is a better Governor than Cuomo. Cuomo has sat on his hands and not accomplished much since 2011. Newsome worked to build a budget surplus rainy day fund for California and it's a damned good thing too, because he has been able to use it on this crisis. Exactly what rainy day funds are for. So I don't agree with many of Newsome's policies, but you have to hand it to him. He's been a good Governor. This makes a difference when it comes to managing crises. So maybe his good governance and good investments in their health care system has led to a lower death rate in California.
These are just some of the things I can think of to explain the disparity between CA and NY. Lockdowns aren't the only variable in play here. It may not even be the decisive variable, even though we are all being told that is the only acceptable narrative and that we must be idiots if we question it. |
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