LETTER: Hong Kong vs. New York

In approximately April 2020, Hong Kong, a city of about 7 million persons, experienced the same COVID pandemic as the rest of the world and records on the internet show about 970 total cases of infection at that time. By contrast, New York City, with a population of around 8 million, was experiencing a seven-day average of 9,350 infections. A very large difference. Why?

Hong Kong for years had experienced poor air quality due to pollution from local industry, and people there routinely wore face masks to protect their lungs. Very few if any New Yorkers wore face masks. If they had, infections in New York would clearly have been much lower.

April 2020 was about the time that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending cloth masks and New Yorker’s responded. By June 2020, cases of infection were down to about a seven-day average of 500.

Wear the mask. It is a little thing to ask to help rid the world of the COVID-19 curse.