Posted on 03/20/2020 3:58:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The United States will be hit hard by the coronavirus. But it has a secret weapon that could lessen the health impact: the way we live.
Coronavirus is so hard to stop because it is so easy to spread. As with other viruses similar to the flu, the coronavirus travels easily through the air or via human contact. Thats why public health experts are pushing social distancing. The fewer people we come into contact with, the less likely we are to contract or spread the virus.
The United States, however, already practices a form of social distancing in its daily life through suburban living. For decades, Americans have been criticized for their detached, single-family houses and their solo car commuting, but these factors may also mean that Americans are less likely to be in close quarters with strangers during their daily lives than are residents of most other developed countries. That alone means we have a form of protection many Italians or Chinese didnt.
The data are crystal clear on this. Chinas population density is 397 people per square mile. Italys is 532 people per square mile, and South Koreas is 1,366. The United States, by contrast, has only 94 people per square mile. Thats got to be a fact in our favor.
We also come into contact with fewer people when we commute. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, more than 80 percent of Americans either work from home or commute alone by car. In Beijing and Xian, on the other hand, only 30 percent of commuters travel by car. Italians similarly use public transit much more frequently than do most Americans. A paper from the Brookings Institution says that the average resident of Milan, the epicenter of Italys coronavirus outbreak, takes 350 trips a year on
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I think this is going to be a lifesaver for many. Wouldn’t want to be in a big city though.
Not politically correct. All cultures are equal, except for American culture, which is bad in every way. Or so we’re taught.
Social justice. every fifth suburbanite should be injected with the virus at random. It’s only fair....
Fly-over country could become the new Super-Majority!
Come on Blue states, Mass Transit Commute, Commute, Commute
Live in the middle of State Forestry and plan on staying here except to get needed supplies. Got a good month plus of staples but might need some milk or eggs in a week or two.
Not wanting anyone to die, but the thought did cross my mind.
What??? The Compost is extolling the virtues of single-family detached homes in the suburbs AND family automobiles used for commuting with ONE driver and no passengers AND powered by fossil fuels?
There are the things that liberals absolutely HATE more than any other!
I'm just sayin'....
It also means large urbans areas are much higher risk.
Hang in there, urbanites! This too shall pass.
District of Columbia (Population density: 11,665 people per square mile)
New Jersey (Population density: 1,213 people per square mile)
Rhode Island (Population density: 1,022 people per square mile)
Puerto Rico (Population density: 900 people per square mile)
Massachusetts (Population density: 890 people per square mile)
Connecticut (Population density: 737 people per square mile)
Maryland (Population density: 625 people per square mile)
Delaware (Population density: 500 people per square mile)
New York (Population density: 414 people per square mile)
Florida (Population density: 404 people per square mile)
THANK YOU! I’ve been screaming this for weeks. Aside from the population centers, we don’t live on top of each other. Even quarter acre cookie-cutter neighborhoods are sufficiently distant. You run into problems with condos and apartments where dozens of people are touching elevator buttons, handrails, dumpster doors, and using shared swimming pools or recreational areas.
I live on several acres and don’t have much worry about all of this. My biggest concern is that they don’t stop the construction on my pool. We’re self-sufficient enough. Leave us the Hell alone.
Taking this a step further the normalization of remote access for businesses that have in the past been at best lukewarm toward it might make the office buildings obsolete and further encourage suburban or even rural living. The cities themselves may ultimately become obsolete.
Urbanites, we have some bad news for you ...
Understand this includes areas such as Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. These metros are replete with apartments and condos and lighter on SFHs. On the other hand, MUCH of Florida is uninhabited swampland, and many rural parts are subdivided into large plots of acreage with greenbelt laws protecting them from further subdividing.
If you stay out of the major metros, you'll find a lot of farms and God-fearing, red-blooded Americans. Most of us were prepared long ago and are going about our daily lives.
Choo Choo Willie Green will be deeply saddened....
Isn’t that something...
All the the blue states that love open borders, homeless people, hate god, love abortion, didn’t want disposable cups...
What? No chickens?
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