August 7, 2020

Big Cities Are Breeding Grounds for COVID-19, But With a Catch

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Today brings a new study of COVID-19 with some interesting results. The basic question is whether big, dense cities are more vulnerable to outbreaks than smaller towns and rural areas. The authors come to two conclusions:

  • High population cities have higher infection rates and higher death rates.
  • However, high density cities have lower death rates.

So the worst possible place to live is a big city with low density. These are mostly found out west: Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, etc. The best place to live would be a relatively small city with high density: San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC, and so forth.

I’m not sure how much this matters since most of us can’t move, but at least it gives you some idea of how dangerous your current residence is.

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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