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Some hospitals in NYC were overwhelmed, but that was limited to Queens and Brooklyn: the NPR piece notes that Javits Center, which was turned into a hospital in

Some hospitals in NYC were overwhelmed, but that was limited to Queens and Brooklyn: the NPR piece notes that Javits Center, which was turned into a hospital in Manhattan, treated about 1100 people total, after being built to handle 1900 at a time. The three other NY field hospitals on that list, all close to NYC, treated zero patients. One of those is in the same county just north of NYC that had the initial outbreak here. I think there's no question that COVID-19 has been a disaster here, but it's going to be heavily debated whether the lockdown saved us or just made things worse on net.

tptacek 6y ago
How are you connecting the occupancy rate of field hospitals to the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the lockdown?
- randallsquared 6y ago
  The low occupancy rate of field hospitals is evidence that either the lockdown worked, or that it was unnecessary. It excludes the case in which the lockdown was obviously necessary and just barely worked, since that's the case in which those field hospitals would themselves have been overwhelmed or nearly so, as well as the existing ICUs. Without regard to the actual effectiveness, the fact that the field hospitals went mostly empty will fuel acrimonious debate about said effectiveness.
mgleason_3 6y ago
Yup, makes me wonder why Cuomo didn't shut down the subway system (or at least limit use based on some sort of need)? The media's given him props for leadership in his briefings, but ignored this massive sources of infections. Meanwhile, various narratives swirl about why NYC is being hit so much harder than elsewhere, like it's some sort of mystery.
- randallsquared 6y ago
  I'm not sure that the data bear that out. Manhattan is the best-served borough, but the least infected. Just this week, Cuomo mentioned some surprising findings: essential workers and homeless, who make up most people on the subway, do not make up a significant number of infected showing up at hospitals, but those do who had been sheltering at home (self-reported, I imagine).
  - mgleason_3 6y ago
    Not sure what data you're referring to. The article I saw in early March said that ridership was down over 70% in Manhattan vs only 15-20% in Queens and Brooklyn. Those numbers have now apparently fallen much further, but I've not seen a breakdown by Burrow.

tptacek 6y ago

How are you connecting the occupancy rate of field hospitals to the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the lockdown?

randallsquared 6y ago
The low occupancy rate of field hospitals is evidence that either the lockdown worked, or that it was unnecessary. It excludes the case in which the lockdown was obviously necessary and just barely worked, since that's the case in which those field hospitals would themselves have been overwhelmed or nearly so, as well as the existing ICUs. Without regard to the actual effectiveness, the fact that the field hospitals went mostly empty will fuel acrimonious debate about said effectiveness.

mgleason_3 6y ago

Yup, makes me wonder why Cuomo didn't shut down the subway system (or at least limit use based on some sort of need)? The media's given him props for leadership in his briefings, but ignored this massive sources of infections. Meanwhile, various narratives swirl about why NYC is being hit so much harder than elsewhere, like it's some sort of mystery.

randallsquared 6y ago
I'm not sure that the data bear that out. Manhattan is the best-served borough, but the least infected. Just this week, Cuomo mentioned some surprising findings: essential workers and homeless, who make up most people on the subway, do not make up a significant number of infected showing up at hospitals, but those do who had been sheltering at home (self-reported, I imagine).
- mgleason_3 6y ago
  Not sure what data you're referring to. The article I saw in early March said that ridership was down over 70% in Manhattan vs only 15-20% in Queens and Brooklyn. Those numbers have now apparently fallen much further, but I've not seen a breakdown by Burrow.