QUESTION ASKED: Did the pandemic create an ‘urban doom loop?’

You probably remember how there were so many people fleeing New York City in the early days of the pandemic that they helped seed outbreaks of the virus around the country. Here’s a bit of what the Washington Post reported in March of 2020:

From the Catskills to Wisconsin’s Door County, communities whose economies usually revolve around seasonal visitors are asking them to stay away. Over the weekend, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) urged people with cottages on the Jersey Shore to “stay at your primary residences,” while Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) warned that those with property on Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard should “stay on the mainland.”

Their concerns aren’t exactly unfounded. In Vermont, where ski towns have been “bustling at levels normally seen at peak times during winter holidays,” according to alt-weekly Seven Days, one of the first confirmed coronavirus cases was a man from Westchester County, N.Y., who fled to his vacation home in hopes of avoiding the virus. Within 24 hours of arriving, he had started to show symptoms.

One Long Island resident was quoted by the NY Post saying, “We’re at the end of Long Island, the tip, and waves of people are bringing this s–t. We should blow up the bridges. Don’t let them in.”

This was happening all over the place but it was especially conspicuous around New York City where lots of wealthy people with second homes immediately began acting like doomsday preppers planning to ride out the zombie apocalypse at their cottage in the Hamptons or Vermont or wherever. So many people fled New York, often taking the virus with them, that the Times later reported the state had been the “primary gateway” for outbreaks around the country.

But as Edsall pointed out, what was at first a temporary situation for a lot of people gradually became permanent. As the lockdowns lingered and more and more white collar workers were doing business from home over zoom, many of them realized there was no reason to maintain an expensive apartment in the city. Many of them decided to relocate permanently. And that in turn has a major impact on cities.

Don’t overlook the out of control crime, looting, road blockages by protestors, and rioting that followed in the spring of 2020 as yet another reason why telecommuting looks especially desirable these days.