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Comment by nicoburns | Hacker News Reader

If the NY subway is anything like London, people will be less than 6 inches apart at rush hour. I imagine that will have played a big part in the spread in both of those cities.

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Yes, the subway is the correct answer. That's how this virus spread like wildfire in NYC. Second reason could be the elevators in the tall buildings (there are plenty of those).

A counter argument is that the same didn't happen (or hasn't happened yet) in cities that also have massive public transportation systems like Tokyo or Seoul. There is probably many confounding factors, such as mask use, no talking on the subway, etc, to make pointing to one particular factor very hard.

EDIT: typo

Those cities see more widespread use of masks generally. And specifically once COVID-19 was common knowledge, so was the use of masks.

Widespread mask usage doesn't happen in NYC, same as the rest of the U.S. It's very recent this is practiced in the U.S., whether voluntarily or by order of a handful of local governments. And in my local area where it's not mandatory I only see about 3 in 4 using masks.

And Japan has a culture of talking quietly which greatly reduces droplet transmission even beyond the practice of wearing masks.

NYC has a culture of yelling.

Do you get yelling on the subway in NYC? Passengers in London famously don't even make eye contact.

Yep, I agree with you. I was trying to make the point that massive transportation is not the only factor at play. Like you said, there are many others that should be considered.

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