The Geography of Coronavirus

The Covid-19 pandemic rages around the world, hitting cities in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in waves: first Wuhan, then Milan and Madrid, and now Seattle, New York City, Detroit and New Orleans. No place seems immune. But some cities seem more vulnerable to its devastating spread, and more vulnerable to the virus’s most insidious impacts.

In trying to understand the factors that exacerbate this pandemic, a chorus of commentators examining the trajectory have been quick to blame density. As with the September 11 terrorist attacks and the economic crisis of 2008, they see the virus as setting in motion a great migration away from dense, populous urban centers, effectively putting an end to the back-to-the-city movement of the past couple of decades.