Why New York Suffered When Other Cities Were Spared by Covid-19

As of this week, at least 21,000 New Yorkers are dead from Covid-19, with a few dozen added to the city’s count every day. More than 3,000 have perished in nursing homes, many more in hospitals. Some died at home. The most brutal toll came among those who were old, poor and in the outer boroughs.

The city’s deaths are 10 times those of Los Angeles County’s. They’ve surpassed the 16,000 lives lost in Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region. In the U.K., eight times as populous as New York City, about 37,500 have died.

With New York’s outbreak eclipsing others around the world, it’s logical to ...