vox--2020-09-02--One Good Thing: The cosmic horror of everyday life, captured in one manga anthology

One Good Thing is Vox ’ s recommendations feature .
In each edition , find one more thing from the world of culture that we highly recommend .
If you ’ ve heard of horror manga creator Junji Ito , it ’ s probably through the internet fame of his most well-known short story , “ The Enigma of Amigara Fault.
” That story , about a Japanese town whose inhabitants become obsessed with fitting themselves inside terrifying mysterious human-sized shapes carved into a mountainside — “ finding their hole ” — has become a horror mainstay as well as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s also an encapsulation of the convergence of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and mundane fear that typifies Ito ’ s work .
Now , a new anthology from Viz , Venus in the Blind Spot , collects many of Ito ’ s best-known short stories , including “ Amigara Fault , ” and offers a great introduction to Ito ’ s work .
The 10 collected short comics — since this is manga , you read each panel from right to left on the page — showcase the pure scope of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as his ability to envision terrifying phenomena in the most unassuming places .
Throughout these stories , everyday life becomes a series of looming potential terrors .
In fact , though almost no one could have seen it coming , Venus seems almost eerily timed for release during a pandemic .
The first story , “ Billions Alone , ” feels like it was conceived with a vision of a world under quarantine .
It wasn ’ t — the story was first published in 2002 and adapted from a popular Japanese urban @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read this story years ago , Ito ’ s vision registers as new , and even obscene , in its straightforward depiction of a society that seems committed to its own destruction .
“ Billions Alone ” plays out through the point of view of an agoraphobe who rarely ventures outside .
But the character ’ s tenuous link to the world becomes even shakier when a strange phenomenon grips the nation and an unknown killer , or killers , begins to target mass group gatherings by sending eerie messages over the airwaves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hands ... billions alone ... ” Through brainwashing and an inexplicable mysterious power , people gathered in groups around the city begin to vanish , only to reappear days later , sewn together in horrific , phantasmagorical shapes and assemblages .
This story predates the infamous 2009 film The Human Centipede by seven years , but there ’ s really no comparison between that campy mess and Ito ’ s artistry , which renders his monstrosities as deftly sketched fever dreams : From there , the allegorical similarities to the Covid-19 pandemic mount @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swiftly or know what to do in the face of the mysterious bringer of death .
Many people stubbornly refuse to stop holding large social gatherings , despite the near certainty of attracting the mass-murdering phenomenon .
Ito ’ s conclusion raises new questions more than it provides answers , but in true Lovecraftian fashion , the glimpse of an answer he provides is nightmare-inducing .
The rest of Venus in the Blind Spot doubles down on the eerie unfathomable logic of Ito ’ s nightmarish visions .
Again and again , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with some ghastly , unutterable phenomenon they can neither understand nor control .
It ’ s the voices on the radio waves , urging you to hold hands and partake in some diabolical ritual ; it ’ s the chair crying out for you to be “ held , ” the mountainside hole calling for you to find it and fit yourself inside .
There ’ s a symbolic terror of connection that emerges throughout Ito ’ s work , but also a kind of deep primal need to become one with whatever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his characters fall prey to their own darkest imaginations ; again and again , they ultimately embrace their own madness and the evil awaiting them with a kind of raw , mad joy .
Ito didn ’ t begin drawing and writing until he was in his 20s , which perhaps explains why so much of his horror is concerned not with the stuff of childhood — few creepy dolls or terrifying ghosts appear in his work — but with the challenges of modernity and adult life : fear of social gatherings , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of reputation .
Born in 1963 , he had a relatively uneventful childhood ( though he did live in a house that required walking down a harrowing underground tunnel to get to the bathroom , which definitely seems like the kind of childhood event that turns someone into a horror writer ) .
Ito started experimenting with art and horror writing while working as a dental technician .
He became a huge fan of “ weird fiction ” as well as the stories of mid-century mystery and horror writer Edogawa Ranpo .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stories , including “ The Human Chair ” and “ An Unearthly Love , ” both of which appear in the Venus anthology .
Ito ’ s attempts at publishing were initially successful — his 1987 debut story , “ Tomie , ” about a girl who returns from the dead , is still one of his best-known .
He gained greater fame with his most well-known longer story : the sprawling 1998 manga series Uzumaki , or Spirals .
The series follows a contagion , of sorts , in which characters grow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , spirals , which occur naturally in nature and so are everywhere .
Many horror fans consider Spirals a modern masterpiece ; however , a film adaptation released in 2000 was lackluster , because live-action cinema fails to capture the drama of Ito ’ s surreal visual style in giving life to his characters ’ psychological obsessions .
That ’ s one reason Ito ’ s short stories are such digestible page turners — the power of his garish , monstrous artwork is as transfixing as the stories he ’ s telling .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ are often secondary to the way they ’ re being told ; Venus in the Blind Spot is perhaps a more adult version of the 1981 anthology Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark , whose fantastical original artwork by illustrator Stephen Gammell made the series a childhood staple and a source of primal terror for many ’ 80s and ’ 90s kids .
With Ito , however , you ’ re not getting the type of horror juvenilia that lends itself to campfire stories , but rather creeping , gnawing dread , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and fear into looming existential anxiety .
I rarely have nightmares , but while reading this collection , I had one — the kind of impossible to explain but equally impossible to shake off dream that lingers for days , much like Ito ’ s storytelling .
Perhaps none of his short stories typifies Ito ’ s appeal as much as the title story of this collection , “ Venus in the Blind Spot , ” about a girl named Mariko who ’ s obsessed with spotting UFOs , and the men who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the men , she vanishes from view ; she ’ s only visible to them from far away .
Once again , Ito plays with a symbolic fear of intimacy and connection .
But even more , he captures something about the ephemeral nature of horror itself : When we look at it directly , it slips from our view ; it ’ s only at the edges of our vision or from a distance that we can see true terror most clearly .
By the time we get near enough to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too late to save ourselves ; we ’ ve already become engulfed in the abyss .
Ito ’ s genius lies in his understanding that even though we should know better , humans will always succumb to the inexorable urge to draw closer anyway .
And that ’ s the most terrifying thing of all .
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work , and helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world .
Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

One Good Thing is Vox’s recommendations feature. In each edition, find one more thing from the world of culture that we highly recommend.
If you’ve heard of horror manga creator Junji Ito, it’s probably through the internet fame of his most well-known short story, “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” That story, about a Japanese town whose inhabitants become obsessed with fitting themselves inside terrifying mysterious human-sized shapes carved into a mountainside — “finding their hole” — has become a horror mainstay as well as a meme since its publication in 2003. It’s also an encapsulation of the convergence of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and mundane fear that typifies Ito’s work.
Now, a new anthology from Viz, Venus in the Blind Spot, collects many of Ito’s best-known short stories, including “Amigara Fault,” and offers a great introduction to Ito’s work. The 10 collected short comics — since this is manga, you read each panel from right to left on the page — showcase the pure scope of Ito’s imagination, as well as his ability to envision terrifying phenomena in the most unassuming places.
Throughout these stories, everyday life becomes a series of looming potential terrors. In fact, though almost no one could have seen it coming, Venus seems almost eerily timed for release during a pandemic. The first story, “Billions Alone,” feels like it was conceived with a vision of a world under quarantine. It wasn’t — the story was first published in 2002 and adapted from a popular Japanese urban legend. But even though I first read this story years ago, Ito’s vision registers as new, and even obscene, in its straightforward depiction of a society that seems committed to its own destruction.
“Billions Alone” plays out through the point of view of an agoraphobe who rarely ventures outside. But the character’s tenuous link to the world becomes even shakier when a strange phenomenon grips the nation and an unknown killer, or killers, begins to target mass group gatherings by sending eerie messages over the airwaves: “Let’s all hold hands ... billions alone ...”
Through brainwashing and an inexplicable mysterious power, people gathered in groups around the city begin to vanish, only to reappear days later, sewn together in horrific, phantasmagorical shapes and assemblages. This story predates the infamous 2009 film The Human Centipede by seven years, but there’s really no comparison between that campy mess and Ito’s artistry, which renders his monstrosities as deftly sketched fever dreams:
From there, the allegorical similarities to the Covid-19 pandemic mount rapidly. Authorities seem helpless to act swiftly or know what to do in the face of the mysterious bringer of death. Many people stubbornly refuse to stop holding large social gatherings, despite the near certainty of attracting the mass-murdering phenomenon. Ito’s conclusion raises new questions more than it provides answers, but in true Lovecraftian fashion, the glimpse of an answer he provides is nightmare-inducing.
The rest of Venus in the Blind Spot doubles down on the eerie unfathomable logic of Ito’s nightmarish visions. Again and again, his characters fight mysterious compulsions to become one with some ghastly, unutterable phenomenon they can neither understand nor control. It’s the voices on the radio waves, urging you to hold hands and partake in some diabolical ritual; it’s the chair crying out for you to be “held,” the mountainside hole calling for you to find it and fit yourself inside. There’s a symbolic terror of connection that emerges throughout Ito’s work, but also a kind of deep primal need to become one with whatever one fears. Again and again, his characters fall prey to their own darkest imaginations; again and again, they ultimately embrace their own madness and the evil awaiting them with a kind of raw, mad joy.
Ito didn’t begin drawing and writing until he was in his 20s, which perhaps explains why so much of his horror is concerned not with the stuff of childhood — few creepy dolls or terrifying ghosts appear in his work — but with the challenges of modernity and adult life: fear of social gatherings, fear of intimacy, fear of loss of reputation. Born in 1963, he had a relatively uneventful childhood (though he did live in a house that required walking down a harrowing underground tunnel to get to the bathroom, which definitely seems like the kind of childhood event that turns someone into a horror writer). Ito started experimenting with art and horror writing while working as a dental technician. He became a huge fan of “weird fiction” as well as the stories of mid-century mystery and horror writer Edogawa Ranpo. He even adapted some of Ranpo’s stories, including “The Human Chair” and “An Unearthly Love,” both of which appear in the Venus anthology.
Ito’s attempts at publishing were initially successful — his 1987 debut story, “Tomie,” about a girl who returns from the dead, is still one of his best-known. He gained greater fame with his most well-known longer story: the sprawling 1998 manga series Uzumaki, or Spirals. The series follows a contagion, of sorts, in which characters grow fatally obsessed with, and terrified of, spirals, which occur naturally in nature and so are everywhere. Many horror fans consider Spirals a modern masterpiece; however, a film adaptation released in 2000 was lackluster, because live-action cinema fails to capture the drama of Ito’s surreal visual style in giving life to his characters’ psychological obsessions.
That’s one reason Ito’s short stories are such digestible page turners — the power of his garish, monstrous artwork is as transfixing as the stories he’s telling. The stories themselves, in fact, are often secondary to the way they’re being told; Venus in the Blind Spot is perhaps a more adult version of the 1981 anthology Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, whose fantastical original artwork by illustrator Stephen Gammell made the series a childhood staple and a source of primal terror for many ’80s and ’90s kids.
With Ito, however, you’re not getting the type of horror juvenilia that lends itself to campfire stories, but rather creeping, gnawing dread, the psychological horror that turns everyday doubt and fear into looming existential anxiety. I rarely have nightmares, but while reading this collection, I had one — the kind of impossible to explain but equally impossible to shake off dream that lingers for days, much like Ito’s storytelling.
Perhaps none of his short stories typifies Ito’s appeal as much as the title story of this collection, “Venus in the Blind Spot,” about a girl named Mariko who’s obsessed with spotting UFOs, and the men who love her. Whenever Mariko comes near the men, she vanishes from view; she’s only visible to them from far away.
Once again, Ito plays with a symbolic fear of intimacy and connection. But even more, he captures something about the ephemeral nature of horror itself: When we look at it directly, it slips from our view; it’s only at the edges of our vision or from a distance that we can see true terror most clearly. By the time we get near enough to see it up close, it’s too late to save ourselves; we’ve already become engulfed in the abyss.
Ito’s genius lies in his understanding that even though we should know better, humans will always succumb to the inexorable urge to draw closer anyway. And that’s the most terrifying thing of all.


vox--2020-09-02--American voters support the post office. Their views on mail-in voting are more complicated.

The United States Postal Service is the rare federal agency that has historically had strong public support .
But its reputation has been tested amid the current crisis at the USPS , which has raised questions about the agency ’ s ability to handle mail-in voting this Election Day .
A new poll from Data for Progress , a progressive think tank , and the Justice Collaborative Institute , provided exclusively to Vox , suggests that Americans still broadly support the Postal Service , even if they ’ re less than thrilled about some of the changes at the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DeJoy .
Sixty percent of voters polled believe the USPS should be treated as a public good — meaning they see it more as an essential service , like the fire department , than as a business that should make a profit .
That feeling is strongest among Democratic voters , 74 percent of whom say the USPS is an essential service .
Republicans are more likely to say that the USPS should be run like a business , though 45 percent of GOP voters also see it as an essential service .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationally on August 21 , through a web panel , and the results were weighted for age , gender , education , race , and voting history .
The United States Postal Service has for years faced a financial crisis .
Revenue from first-class mail has declined since 2000 , and 2006 legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund 75 years ’ worth of retirement and health care costs put an unprecedented financial obligation on the agency .
Then the pandemic hit , which took a toll on the labor force as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leave , driving up overtime costs .
DeJoy , who took over the postmaster job in June , has also overseen several cost-cutting measures , which drove some delays in mail service .
Those delays also came as President Donald Trump began to target mail-in voting , claiming without evidence that it would lead to massive fraud .
( Voting fraud in general is very , very low , including with mail-in ballots . )
Democrats and some voting rights advocates feared that DeJoy — a Trump ally and longtime Republican donor — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially as the USPS had already admitted it would struggle to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted in many states .
DeJoy has dismissed any allegations that he ’ s undermining the USPS .
He has also since suspended some of the initiatives ahead of the election , though he is not reversing those that have already gone into effect .
But it seems the damage might already be done , particularly among Democratic voters .
About 49 percent of all voters are very concerned that Trump and DeJoy might try @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there is a pretty stark partisan divide : 78 percent of Democrats are very concerned about this , compared with just 37 percent of independents and 26 percent of Republicans .
Even with those divisions , there ’ s pretty strong bipartisan support for making sure the USPS makes ballots a priority .
Overwhelmingly , voters — a total of 74 percent — want election mail to be treated as first-class mail — meaning it ’ s preferenced over other mail , even if it costs more for state governments .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to prioritize ballots , including putting them ahead of some first-class mail . )
This has strong bipartisan support across the board , with nearly three of out four Democrats , independents , and Republicans backing the idea .
Yet Trump ’ s attacks on mail-in voting ( though he votes by mail ) seem to have shifted some Republicans ’ view on the practice .
Data for Progress found a majority of voters — 52 percent — believe that voting by mail is trustworthy and that everyone should have the option @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent of Democrats agreed with that statement , other groups are a little more skeptical : 48 percent of independents agreed , but only 32 percent of Republicans did .
A majority of GOP voters ( 62 percent ) said vote-by-mail systems would actually lead to voter fraud and should be restricted .
As the United States inches closer to Election Day , that partisan split on voting by mail has some analysts concerned .
Democrats may be more likely to cast their vote by mail , whereas Republicans — who may be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ driven by the president ’ s attacks — may vote in person .
Already about one in four Americans vote by mail , but that number could double in 2020 .
States that have expanded mail-in voting could see an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots , and those are going to take longer to tally because it ’ s a bit more of a laborious process .
That could create a situation in which Trump appears to be winning on Election Night , only for that lead to shift in favor of Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots are counted .
The fear is that Trump will declare victory and then claim fraud once the results start to shift .
And what comes after — well , it probably isn ’ t good .
Handling ballots is just one job the USPS does , albeit one that is fundamental to American democracy .
Beyond partisan divisions over voting by mail , Americans rely on the USPS for their businesses , paying bills , and medications .
Protecting the institution largely has bipartisan backing , at least right now .
Help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world .
Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

The United States Postal Service is the rare federal agency that has historically had strong public support. But its reputation has been tested amid the current crisis at the USPS, which has raised questions about the agency’s ability to handle mail-in voting this Election Day.
A new poll from Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, and the Justice Collaborative Institute, provided exclusively to Vox, suggests that Americans still broadly support the Postal Service, even if they’re less than thrilled about some of the changes at the agency under the leadership of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Sixty percent of voters polled believe the USPS should be treated as a public good — meaning they see it more as an essential service, like the fire department, than as a business that should make a profit. That feeling is strongest among Democratic voters, 74 percent of whom say the USPS is an essential service. Republicans are more likely to say that the USPS should be run like a business, though 45 percent of GOP voters also see it as an essential service.
Data for Progress surveyed 1,135 likely voters nationally on August 21, through a web panel, and the results were weighted for age, gender, education, race, and voting history.
The United States Postal Service has for years faced a financial crisis. Revenue from first-class mail has declined since 2000, and 2006 legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund 75 years’ worth of retirement and health care costs put an unprecedented financial obligation on the agency.
Then the pandemic hit, which took a toll on the labor force as employees got sick or had to take leave, driving up overtime costs. DeJoy, who took over the postmaster job in June, has also overseen several cost-cutting measures, which drove some delays in mail service.
Those delays also came as President Donald Trump began to target mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that it would lead to massive fraud. (Voting fraud in general is very, very low, including with mail-in ballots.)
Democrats and some voting rights advocates feared that DeJoy — a Trump ally and longtime Republican donor — might be slowing the mail deliberately, especially as the USPS had already admitted it would struggle to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted in many states.
DeJoy has dismissed any allegations that he’s undermining the USPS. He has also since suspended some of the initiatives ahead of the election, though he is not reversing those that have already gone into effect.
But it seems the damage might already be done, particularly among Democratic voters. About 49 percent of all voters are very concerned that Trump and DeJoy might try to disrupt voting this year. Here, there is a pretty stark partisan divide: 78 percent of Democrats are very concerned about this, compared with just 37 percent of independents and 26 percent of Republicans.
Even with those divisions, there’s pretty strong bipartisan support for making sure the USPS makes ballots a priority. Overwhelmingly, voters — a total of 74 percent — want election mail to be treated as first-class mail — meaning it’s preferenced over other mail, even if it costs more for state governments. (DeJoy has promised that the USPS will continue to prioritize ballots, including putting them ahead of some first-class mail.) This has strong bipartisan support across the board, with nearly three of out four Democrats, independents, and Republicans backing the idea.
Yet Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting (though he votes by mail) seem to have shifted some Republicans’ view on the practice. Data for Progress found a majority of voters — 52 percent — believe that voting by mail is trustworthy and that everyone should have the option to do so. But while 73 percent of Democrats agreed with that statement, other groups are a little more skeptical: 48 percent of independents agreed, but only 32 percent of Republicans did. A majority of GOP voters (62 percent) said vote-by-mail systems would actually lead to voter fraud and should be restricted.
As the United States inches closer to Election Day, that partisan split on voting by mail has some analysts concerned. Democrats may be more likely to cast their vote by mail, whereas Republicans — who may be more skeptical of voting by mail, driven by the president’s attacks — may vote in person.
Already about one in four Americans vote by mail, but that number could double in 2020. States that have expanded mail-in voting could see an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots, and those are going to take longer to tally because it’s a bit more of a laborious process. That could create a situation in which Trump appears to be winning on Election Night, only for that lead to shift in favor of Democratic candidate Joe Biden once all the mail-in ballots are counted.
The fear is that Trump will declare victory and then claim fraud once the results start to shift. And what comes after — well, it probably isn’t good.
Handling ballots is just one job the USPS does, albeit one that is fundamental to American democracy. Beyond partisan divisions over voting by mail, Americans rely on the USPS for their businesses, paying bills, and medications. Protecting the institution largely has bipartisan backing, at least right now.


vox--2020-09-02--How New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo failed, then succeeded, on Covid-19

New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo is now widely seen by Democrats and the left as a hero in the fight against Covid-19 .
In the spring , his daily news conferences about the coronavirus became the liberal counterbalance to President Donald Trump ’ s rambling , bizarre press briefings .
At the Democratic National Convention , Cuomo claimed New Yorkers “ climbed the impossible mountain , and right now we are on the other side.
” He ’ s now writing a book about New York ’ s response to the pandemic , in which he seems poised to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cuomo might seem like an unlikely hero , given that New York suffered the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the US , with only neighboring New Jersey coming close in terms of deaths after accounting for population .
Its death toll of more than 32,000 is by far the highest in the country , amounting to more than 18 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the US even though New York only has about 6 percent of the country ’ s population .
New Yorkers recall the sound of sirens echoing on empty streets throughout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the horror the state was going through .
But it ’ s also true New York is now doing better than almost any other state at containing the epidemic .
It has the third least daily new cases out of any state , with its case count of 3 per 100,000 people coming in at one-third the national average .
It has a low test positive rate , a common measure of gauging an outbreak and testing capacity , of less than 1 percent — far below both the recommended maximum ( 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6 percent ) .
So did Cuomo succeed , fail , or both ?
According to experts , Cuomo and other New York leaders were initially slow to react to the coronavirus , letting the pathogen spread rapidly through the population before the state closed down .
Some of that was due to a lack of understanding of the disease early on , but there were also steps Cuomo and others , experts argued , should have known to take even back then .
But once New York ’ s leaders and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of things right , from social distancing to testing to masking .
“ Early on , there were a lot of stages that could have been the canary in the coal mine for them — to start creating mitigation or containment strategies — that I think were missed , ” Makeda Robinson , an infectious diseases expert at Stanford , told me .
“ But I do think once they got the fire lit under them , they did an excellent job implementing all these strategies.
” One notable exception : nursing homes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Health advisory memo was widely interpreted by the facilities as forcing them to take Covid-19 patients from hospitals , potentially worsening the spread of the disease .
Cuomo ’ s office has rebuked the criticisms , arguing that it acted on the best evidence and expert advice it had at the time .
To the extent the state was slow to recognize the threat of Covid-19 , officials claim it was due to federal missteps and inaction that hindered testing early on in the crisis , leaving the state , one adviser said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to detect its full epidemic before it was too late .
Experts widely agree Trump was slow to acknowledge the crisis and moved far too slowly , contradicting expert advice even after it was clear that coronavirus was a real and present threat .
His actions made things harder for New York — adding another reason that the state initially struggled with the coronavirus , and many other states continue to do so .
Still , New York also shows that action is possible even under Trump ’ s flailing .
Cuomo could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask mandate without federal intervention .
And despite initial mistakes , New York and its leaders have by and large remained vigilant .
They ’ ve been slow to open back up , especially when it comes to risky indoor environments .
They ’ ve encouraged the public to continue taking steps , like social distancing and masking , seriously .
And the public has been , at least anecdotally , relatively receptive to the necessary precautions , having already gone through a major Covid-19 outbreak .
The state ’ s late success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ struggle with a second coronavirus wave offers a lesson to the rest of the US and world : Covid-19 is not something that can simply be vanquished in a matter of weeks or months .
It requires continued and sustained vigilance .
Unfortunately , it ’ s a lesson that only came about after Cuomo and state leaders oversaw and learned from the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the country and one of the worst in the world .
Cuomo ’ s first big mistake : He was too slow to take serious action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state reported its first Covid-19 case .
On March 2 , Cuomo acknowledged that community transmission within the state “ is inevitable.
” By March 3 , the state confirmed the first case of community transmission .
At that point , the state ’ s first big outbreak took off in New Rochelle .
On March 5 , New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “ you have to assume [ the virus ] could be anywhere in the city.
” Each of these events could have served as early red @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increasingly clear , too , that the coronavirus was spreading not just in far-flung places like China and Iran , but in the West too .
Italy was struck hard first by March , leading to haunting stories of overflowing hospital wards , patients turned away , and a growing death toll .
Spain , Belgium , and France soon followed with big outbreaks and climbing death tolls .
Cuomo and other New York leaders started to mobilize .
They began holding regular news conferences , warning of the virus and threats .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state , including in-person teaching at schools and large gatherings , while recommending people work from home if possible .
Even then , the messaging was muddled .
Cuomo on March 2 told reporters , “ We have been ahead of this from Day 1.
” De Blasio on the same day tweeted that he was “ encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives ” and “ get out on the town despite Coronavirus ” — offering a movie recommendation for The Traitor .
At this point , experts said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , particularly with a stay-at-home order .
“ It did take us a while to focus on the strategies that we really needed to implement , given the threats that we faced in New York , ” Denis Nash , an epidemiologist at the City University of New York , told me .
“ It ’ s hard to expect our elected officials to get everything right from the beginning in such an unprecedented situation .
But I still think that some of our elected officials in New York — I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de Blasio — really waited a little bit too long to make some hard decisions.
” Cuomo was vocally skeptical of a stay-at-home order .
Asked about de Blasio ’ s comments advocating for a “ shelter-in-place ” order , Cuomo on March 19 suggested such a move was unnecessary , arguing , “ I ’ m as afraid of the fear and the panic as I am of the virus , and I think that the fear is more contagious than the virus right now.
” Behind the scenes , the mayor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with Cuomo remaining resistant .
Meanwhile , the San Francisco Bay Area issued the country ’ s first regional stay-at-home order on March 16 , which went into effect the next day , and California issued an order on March 19 that went into effect the same day .
On March 20 , Cuomo acquiesced — issuing a stay-at-home order for the whole state that would take effect two days later .
A few days of delayed action may not seem like a long time .
But exponential growth means cases of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days , quickly spiraling out of control — making early action key to nipping the problem in the bud before it explodes out of control .
Tom Frieden , who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Barack Obama , told the New York Times that the state could have reduced its death toll by 50 to 80 percent if it locked down a week or two earlier .
“ I don ’ t think we would have averted an outbreak , ” Nash said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It could have been less of a surge .
I also think it would have bought time for the rest of the country , because , no doubt , a lot of the cases that went on to occur around the US originated in New York.
” Cuomo ’ s office questioned whether the state could have acted quicker .
A week before Cuomo issued a stay-at-home order , the state had reported around 50 Covid-19 cases a day and zero deaths .
By the time of the order , there were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day .
Without that level of spread , the public may have been skeptical of drastic measures .
“ You can ’ t really enforce some of these policies .
You have a state of 20 million people .
You don ’ t have enough law enforcement to effectively enforce them .
You have to have public buy-in , ” Gareth Rhodes , a member of Cuomo ’ s Covid-19 Task Force , told me .
“ If we started shutting down any gathering or closing schools in February , when there wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s arguable people simply would not have listened at all.
” New York wasn ’ t alone in acting slowly .
The CDC and Food and Drug Administration took weeks to fix problems that hindered testing in February and March , making it hard to detect the virus as it spread .
And New York , despite the delay , was still one of the first states to shut down .
New York may have gotten unlucky , too .
Its position as a major international hub , its density , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it uniquely vulnerable to Covid-19 .
These factors — considered upsides to New York in most other situations — were out of Cuomo ’ s control .
The virus also initially spread when we simply knew less about it .
We didn ’ t know what parts of lockdowns would be effective , or that outdoor spaces , for example , were comparatively safer .
We had much less research on the benefits of masks .
And it was still unclear how this virus would affect the US in particular .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when we were still learning about Covid — a lot was unknown still , ” Sandra Albrecht , an epidemiologist at Columbia University , told me .
“ It was a learning experience.
” Cuomo ’ s second big mistake came after the state started treating Covid-19 as a serious threat .
On March 25 , his administration issued an advisory that effectively forced nursing homes to take in Covid-19 patients from hospitals after they supposedly recovered .
The rules barred nursing homes from demanding a coronavirus test prior to the transfer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rules to force them to take in Covid-19 patients .
The idea was to limit hospital occupancy — a huge point of concern , as the coronavirus strained hospitals worldwide , including in New York .
But critics say the advisory pushed Covid-19 into some of the most vulnerable places in the state .
According to the Covid Tracking Project , more than 6,600 people have died in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in New York , comprising about 26 percent of Covid-19 deaths .
( It ’ s hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s nursing home outbreaks were versus other states ’ due to differences in how such cases are counted . )
Republicans and conservatives have seized on the advisory to criticize Cuomo , especially after he spoke at the Democratic convention .
Michael Caputo , a spokesperson for Trump ’ s Department of Health and Human Services , tweeted , “ Does the # DemConvention know @ NYGovCuomo forced nursing homes across NY to take in COVID positive patients and planted the seeds of infection that killed thousands of grandmothers and grandfathers ?
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department have pushed back against the claims .
Cuomo has described the criticisms as “ political.
” The New York State Health Department released a report suggesting Covid was spreading in nursing homes prior to the advisory and largely due to infections among staff , not formerly hospitalized patients .
But experts have been highly critical of the state ’ s report , arguing its shoddy methodology wouldn ’ t make it into a reputable scientific journal .
Experts told me that , overall , New York ’ s nursing homes were likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a big outbreak in the state , even if Cuomo ’ s administration hadn ’ t issued the advisory — a reflection of longstanding problems with infection control in these facilities .
Still , they argued that the advisory likely made things worse .
Even the state ’ s report admits that some patients who were transferred back to nursing homes were infectious , although it ’ s not clear how many and which led to more infections .
“ It didn ’ t help , ” Albrecht said .
The advisory “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t say with certainty how many of the thousands of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes are linked back to the advisory .
Some of that comes down to how the state tracks these deaths .
New York only counts a death as linked to a nursing home if a patient dies in one of these facilities .
Since patients could contract the virus in a nursing home , then get transferred to a hospital and die there , New York ’ s tally almost certainly undercounts deaths linked to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repeatedly said he isn ’ t to blame , dismissing criticisms about the nursing home advisory as politically motivated .
Still , his administration updated the advisory in May , requiring that patients test negative for the coronavirus before they ’ re sent to nursing homes .
The federal government didn ’ t help much While New York did some things very wrong , it was also true that Trump and the federal government often didn ’ t help — and , with their own failures and inaction , actually made it much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and local governments to respond to the coronavirus pandemic .
“ One of the real problems is that our entire strategy , nationally and even globally , was really backward , ” Stephen Morse , an epidemiologist at Columbia , told me , pointing to the state-by-state , country-by-country efforts over a truly national or global response .
“ I was stunned by the total lack of coordination.
” As experts called for federal leadership and a national plan , the Trump administration actively abdicated its duties to state and local governments .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ procuring badly needed tests , for example , the federal government was merely a “ supplier of last resort ” — leaving cash-strapped states to bid against one another , and other nations , for test kits and other equipment .
When the federal government recommended that people social distance in March , and as experts said the pandemic would be a months-long battle , Trump suggested people could get back to normal by April in time for Easter .
After federal agencies released a phased plan for reopening , Trump called on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” them from economic calamity .
As experts pushed for more testing , Trump said that he told his people to “ slow the testing down , please.
” After the CDC recommended people wear masks in public , Trump said it was a personal choice , refused for months to wear a mask in public , and even suggested people who were wearing masks were doing so to spite him ( though he ’ s recently changed his tone ) .
While federal agencies and scientists diligently look for treatments for Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even dangerous approaches — from repeatedly hyping the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine , which hasn ’ t been shown to be useful , to musing about injecting bleach .
Taken together , it ’ s Trump ’ s record — of magical thinking , lies , and incompetence — that sets the US apart , as it ’ s suffered a massive surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths that other developed nations ( with the exception of Spain ) have avoided .
“ It begins in many ways , and you could argue it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump administration , ” Ashish Jha , faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute , told me .
“ If George W. Bush had been president , if John McCain had been president , if Mitt Romney had been president , this would have looked very different.
” None of this absolves Cuomo for New York ’ s early missteps .
He still could have issued a stay-at-home order earlier .
He could have instituted a mask mandate before mid-April .
His administration didn ’ t need to issue the nursing home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
But federal inaction certainly didn ’ t help .
By failing to build up a testing and tracing system , failing to encourage the widespread use of masks , and refusing to use the full powers of the federal government to boost production of equipment for health care workers , Trump put more work on cities , counties , and states that simply have fewer resources and less reach than the federal government .
New York officials point to issues with testing as a particularly damaging federal failure .
When the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the FDA was slow to allow other tests , the federal government left what the New York Times called a “ lost month ” in terms of testing .
“ There was this entire month that we were basically flying blind through no fault of our own , ” Rhodes , of Cuomo ’ s task force , said .
“ We should have been testing much more.
” He added , “ Failing to recognize [ Covid ] earlier is not a state failure .
It ’ s a failure of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relatively wealthy state with the resources to buy a lot of tests .
But if testing problems are originating in other states — a swab factory in Maine , for example — there ’ s only so much that New York can do .
That forced New York , as well as other states , to engage in a bidding war for limited supplies , slowing how quickly any state could build up its testing capacity even if it was fully committed to the cause .
Trump ’ s failure to act even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boasts about .
While Trump focused on restricting travel from China in February and early March , New York ’ s infections largely originated in Europe .
Only weeks after community spread likely began in the Northeast of the US did Trump restrict travel from Europe — and only partially .
That was simply too little , too late .
So while states , including New York , made plenty of mistakes that led to worse Covid-19 outbreaks , Trump and the rest of the federal government made things much worse too .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ things — and needs to keep doing them The situation has improved dramatically in New York since the spring .
Today , the state is in the bottom three for daily new cases , with a rate of 3 per 100,000 people .
Its test positive rate is the third lowest in the country at less than 1 percent — an indication of a controlled outbreak .
Experts say Cuomo and other leaders in the state deserve a lot of credit for such outcomes .
New York dramatically scaled up testing — with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for population , among all states .
It built up a contact tracing system .
It imposed a masking mandate .
It has , in general , adhered closely to expert advice and empirical data as it ’ s evolved and shifted .
Perhaps most importantly , Cuomo resisted what many other states did not : reopening too quickly .
The state imposed strict regional metrics that localities have to meet to reopen , and it ’ s stuck with them .
New York City still hasn ’ t allowed indoor dining or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ huge risk for Covid-19 transmission .
It ’ s a sharp contrast to California Gov .
Gavin Newsom ( D ) .
He was the first in the country to close down his state but , under pressure from local and private actors , allowed counties to reopen more quickly , getting waivers that effectively allowed them to ignore the standards the state previously set .
That allowed indoor dining , bars , and other risky indoor spaces to reopen — until cases exploded in California , forcing Newsom to eventually reel back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on , ” Robinson , of Stanford , said .
“ But during the time that we were sheltering in place , we often didn ’ t ramp up as much testing and contact tracing — so that when people started to come back outside , there wasn ’ t a definite plan with how we were doing that.
” She added , “ People felt like we paid our penance , let ’ s go back to life as normal , not realizing that this is something we ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at least , hasn ’ t faced similar problems so far ( though that could change if the state starts to reopen aggressively , experts warned ) .
There are factors beyond policy that have helped New York .
Because the state suffered a massive outbreak in the spring , there ’ s likely some element of population immunity making it more difficult for cases to spread too widely as long as people follow some precautions .
The public has helped , too , remaining cautious even as the state has reopened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for example , found New York had some of the highest rates of mask-wearing in public of any state .
“ Once we did [ act ] , it ’ s truly an incredible testament to New Yorkers that we have been able to do what was needed to get where we are today , ” Nash , of the City University of New York , said .
New York ’ s success in the aftermath of a deadly outbreak shows the need for continued and sustained vigilance .
It ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test positive rates — as many states did early in the summer — people also need to stay cautious and keep the spread of the virus from getting out of control again .
Resisting temptation , such as with reopening risky indoor spaces like bars , is crucial .
The unfortunate reality is Covid-19 won ’ t go away until a vaccine or similar treatment is widely available .
The fall and winter could be even worse as schools reopen , the cold pushes more Americans indoors , the holidays bring family and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another flu season looms — all of which could warrant more vigilance , not less .
Covid-19 , then , remains a constant threat .
And if states want to avoid outbreaks as bad as New York ’ s , they could learn from what it did in the aftermath .
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Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work , and helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world .
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is now widely seen by Democrats and the left as a hero in the fight against Covid-19.
In the spring, his daily news conferences about the coronavirus became the liberal counterbalance to President Donald Trump’s rambling, bizarre press briefings. At the Democratic National Convention, Cuomo claimed New Yorkers “climbed the impossible mountain, and right now we are on the other side.” He’s now writing a book about New York’s response to the pandemic, in which he seems poised to portray himself in a positive light.
Cuomo might seem like an unlikely hero, given that New York suffered the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the US, with only neighboring New Jersey coming close in terms of deaths after accounting for population. Its death toll of more than 32,000 is by far the highest in the country, amounting to more than 18 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the US even though New York only has about 6 percent of the country’s population. New Yorkers recall the sound of sirens echoing on empty streets throughout the spring — a constant reminder of the horror the state was going through.
But it’s also true New York is now doing better than almost any other state at containing the epidemic. It has the third least daily new cases out of any state, with its case count of 3 per 100,000 people coming in at one-third the national average. It has a low test positive rate, a common measure of gauging an outbreak and testing capacity, of less than 1 percent — far below both the recommended maximum (5 percent) and the national average (6 percent).
So did Cuomo succeed, fail, or both?
According to experts, Cuomo and other New York leaders were initially slow to react to the coronavirus, letting the pathogen spread rapidly through the population before the state closed down. Some of that was due to a lack of understanding of the disease early on, but there were also steps Cuomo and others, experts argued, should have known to take even back then.
But once New York’s leaders and the public acted, they did a lot of things right, from social distancing to testing to masking.
“Early on, there were a lot of stages that could have been the canary in the coal mine for them — to start creating mitigation or containment strategies — that I think were missed,” Makeda Robinson, an infectious diseases expert at Stanford, told me. “But I do think once they got the fire lit under them, they did an excellent job implementing all these strategies.”
One notable exception: nursing homes. A New York State Department of Health advisory memo was widely interpreted by the facilities as forcing them to take Covid-19 patients from hospitals, potentially worsening the spread of the disease.
Cuomo’s office has rebuked the criticisms, arguing that it acted on the best evidence and expert advice it had at the time. To the extent the state was slow to recognize the threat of Covid-19, officials claim it was due to federal missteps and inaction that hindered testing early on in the crisis, leaving the state, one adviser said, “flying blind” and unable to detect its full epidemic before it was too late.
Experts widely agree Trump was slow to acknowledge the crisis and moved far too slowly, contradicting expert advice even after it was clear that coronavirus was a real and present threat. His actions made things harder for New York — adding another reason that the state initially struggled with the coronavirus, and many other states continue to do so.
Still, New York also shows that action is possible even under Trump’s flailing. Cuomo could and did issue a stay-at-home order and mask mandate without federal intervention.
And despite initial mistakes, New York and its leaders have by and large remained vigilant. They’ve been slow to open back up, especially when it comes to risky indoor environments. They’ve encouraged the public to continue taking steps, like social distancing and masking, seriously. And the public has been, at least anecdotally, relatively receptive to the necessary precautions, having already gone through a major Covid-19 outbreak.
The state’s late success as much of the country continues to struggle with a second coronavirus wave offers a lesson to the rest of the US and world: Covid-19 is not something that can simply be vanquished in a matter of weeks or months. It requires continued and sustained vigilance.
Unfortunately, it’s a lesson that only came about after Cuomo and state leaders oversaw and learned from the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the country and one of the worst in the world.
New York closed too slowly
Cuomo’s first big mistake: He was too slow to take serious action.
On March 1, New York state reported its first Covid-19 case. On March 2, Cuomo acknowledged that community transmission within the state “is inevitable.” By March 3, the state confirmed the first case of community transmission. At that point, the state’s first big outbreak took off in New Rochelle. On March 5, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “you have to assume [the virus] could be anywhere in the city.” Each of these events could have served as early red flags for aggressive action.
It became increasingly clear, too, that the coronavirus was spreading not just in far-flung places like China and Iran, but in the West too. Italy was struck hard first by March, leading to haunting stories of overflowing hospital wards, patients turned away, and a growing death toll. Spain, Belgium, and France soon followed with big outbreaks and climbing death tolls.
Cuomo and other New York leaders started to mobilize. They began holding regular news conferences, warning of the virus and threats. They started to close down parts of the state, including in-person teaching at schools and large gatherings, while recommending people work from home if possible.
Even then, the messaging was muddled. Cuomo on March 2 told reporters, “We have been ahead of this from Day 1.” De Blasio on the same day tweeted that he was “encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives” and “get out on the town despite Coronavirus” — offering a movie recommendation for The Traitor.
At this point, experts said, the state just moved too slowly, particularly with a stay-at-home order.
“It did take us a while to focus on the strategies that we really needed to implement, given the threats that we faced in New York,” Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told me. “It’s hard to expect our elected officials to get everything right from the beginning in such an unprecedented situation. But I still think that some of our elected officials in New York — I’m thinking of Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio — really waited a little bit too long to make some hard decisions.”
Cuomo was vocally skeptical of a stay-at-home order. Asked about de Blasio’s comments advocating for a “shelter-in-place” order, Cuomo on March 19 suggested such a move was unnecessary, arguing, “I’m as afraid of the fear and the panic as I am of the virus, and I think that the fear is more contagious than the virus right now.” Behind the scenes, the mayor and governor reportedly bickered about the order, with Cuomo remaining resistant.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Area issued the country’s first regional stay-at-home order on March 16, which went into effect the next day, and California issued an order on March 19 that went into effect the same day.
On March 20, Cuomo acquiesced — issuing a stay-at-home order for the whole state that would take effect two days later.
A few days of delayed action may not seem like a long time. But exponential growth means cases of Covid-19 can double in a couple of days, quickly spiraling out of control — making early action key to nipping the problem in the bud before it explodes out of control. Tom Frieden, who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Barack Obama, told the New York Times that the state could have reduced its death toll by 50 to 80 percent if it locked down a week or two earlier.
“I don’t think we would have averted an outbreak,” Nash said. “We could have averted a surge. It could have been less of a surge. I also think it would have bought time for the rest of the country, because, no doubt, a lot of the cases that went on to occur around the US originated in New York.”
Cuomo’s office questioned whether the state could have acted quicker. A week before Cuomo issued a stay-at-home order, the state had reported around 50 Covid-19 cases a day and zero deaths. By the time of the order, there were nearly 1,000 cases and 10 deaths a day. Without that level of spread, the public may have been skeptical of drastic measures.
“You can’t really enforce some of these policies. You have a state of 20 million people. You don’t have enough law enforcement to effectively enforce them. You have to have public buy-in,” Gareth Rhodes, a member of Cuomo’s Covid-19 Task Force, told me. “If we started shutting down any gathering or closing schools in February, when there wasn’t a confirmed case, it’s arguable people simply would not have listened at all.”
New York wasn’t alone in acting slowly. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration took weeks to fix problems that hindered testing in February and March, making it hard to detect the virus as it spread. And New York, despite the delay, was still one of the first states to shut down.
New York may have gotten unlucky, too. Its position as a major international hub, its density, and its widespread dependence on public transportation made it uniquely vulnerable to Covid-19. These factors — considered upsides to New York in most other situations — were out of Cuomo’s control.
The virus also initially spread when we simply knew less about it. We didn’t know what parts of lockdowns would be effective, or that outdoor spaces, for example, were comparatively safer. We had much less research on the benefits of masks. And it was still unclear how this virus would affect the US in particular.
“It was very early on in the pandemic, when we were still learning about Covid — a lot was unknown still,” Sandra Albrecht, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, told me. “It was a learning experience.”
A nursing home advisory likely made things worse
Cuomo’s second big mistake came after the state started treating Covid-19 as a serious threat. On March 25, his administration issued an advisory that effectively forced nursing homes to take in Covid-19 patients from hospitals after they supposedly recovered. The rules barred nursing homes from demanding a coronavirus test prior to the transfer. In general, nursing homes interpreted the rules to force them to take in Covid-19 patients.
The idea was to limit hospital occupancy — a huge point of concern, as the coronavirus strained hospitals worldwide, including in New York. But critics say the advisory pushed Covid-19 into some of the most vulnerable places in the state.
According to the Covid Tracking Project, more than 6,600 people have died in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in New York, comprising about 26 percent of Covid-19 deaths. (It’s hard to compare how bad New York’s nursing home outbreaks were versus other states’ due to differences in how such cases are counted.)
Republicans and conservatives have seized on the advisory to criticize Cuomo, especially after he spoke at the Democratic convention. Michael Caputo, a spokesperson for Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, tweeted, “Does the #DemConvention know @NYGovCuomo forced nursing homes across NY to take in COVID positive patients and planted the seeds of infection that killed thousands of grandmothers and grandfathers?”
Cuomo and the New York State Health Department have pushed back against the claims. Cuomo has described the criticisms as “political.” The New York State Health Department released a report suggesting Covid-19 was spreading in nursing homes prior to the advisory and largely due to infections among staff, not formerly hospitalized patients.
But experts have been highly critical of the state’s report, arguing its shoddy methodology wouldn’t make it into a reputable scientific journal.
Experts told me that, overall, New York’s nursing homes were likely to suffer Covid-19 deaths once there was a big outbreak in the state, even if Cuomo’s administration hadn’t issued the advisory — a reflection of longstanding problems with infection control in these facilities.
Still, they argued that the advisory likely made things worse. Even the state’s report admits that some patients who were transferred back to nursing homes were infectious, although it’s not clear how many and which led to more infections.
“It didn’t help,” Albrecht said. The advisory “probably worsened the situation.”
But we can’t say with certainty how many of the thousands of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes are linked back to the advisory.
Some of that comes down to how the state tracks these deaths. New York only counts a death as linked to a nursing home if a patient dies in one of these facilities. Since patients could contract the virus in a nursing home, then get transferred to a hospital and die there, New York’s tally almost certainly undercounts deaths linked to outbreaks in nursing homes.
Cuomo has repeatedly said he isn’t to blame, dismissing criticisms about the nursing home advisory as politically motivated. Still, his administration updated the advisory in May, requiring that patients test negative for the coronavirus before they’re sent to nursing homes.
The federal government didn’t help much
While New York did some things very wrong, it was also true that Trump and the federal government often didn’t help — and, with their own failures and inaction, actually made it much harder for New York and other state and local governments to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
“One of the real problems is that our entire strategy, nationally and even globally, was really backward,” Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at Columbia, told me, pointing to the state-by-state, country-by-country efforts over a truly national or global response. “I was stunned by the total lack of coordination.”
As experts called for federal leadership and a national plan, the Trump administration actively abdicated its duties to state and local governments. It claimed that when it came to procuring badly needed tests, for example, the federal government was merely a “supplier of last resort” — leaving cash-strapped states to bid against one another, and other nations, for test kits and other equipment.
When the federal government recommended that people social distance in March, and as experts said the pandemic would be a months-long battle, Trump suggested people could get back to normal by April in time for Easter. After federal agencies released a phased plan for reopening, Trump called on states to reopen faster and “LIBERATE” them from economic calamity.
As experts pushed for more testing, Trump said that he told his people to “slow the testing down, please.” After the CDC recommended people wear masks in public, Trump said it was a personal choice, refused for months to wear a mask in public, and even suggested people who were wearing masks were doing so to spite him (though he’s recently changed his tone).
While federal agencies and scientists diligently look for treatments for Covid-19, Trump has advocated for ineffective and even dangerous approaches — from repeatedly hyping the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which hasn’t been shown to be useful, to musing about injecting bleach.
Taken together, it’s Trump’s record — of magical thinking, lies, and incompetence — that sets the US apart, as it’s suffered a massive surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths that other developed nations (with the exception of Spain) have avoided.
“It begins in many ways, and you could argue it ends in many ways, with the Trump administration,” Ashish Jha, faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told me. “If George W. Bush had been president, if John McCain had been president, if Mitt Romney had been president, this would have looked very different.”
None of this absolves Cuomo for New York’s early missteps. He still could have issued a stay-at-home order earlier. He could have instituted a mask mandate before mid-April. His administration didn’t need to issue the nursing home advisory and then take weeks to correct it.
But federal inaction certainly didn’t help. By failing to build up a testing and tracing system, failing to encourage the widespread use of masks, and refusing to use the full powers of the federal government to boost production of equipment for health care workers, Trump put more work on cities, counties, and states that simply have fewer resources and less reach than the federal government.
New York officials point to issues with testing as a particularly damaging federal failure. When the CDC botched its tests in February and the FDA was slow to allow other tests, the federal government left what the New York Times called a “lost month” in terms of testing.
“There was this entire month that we were basically flying blind through no fault of our own,” Rhodes, of Cuomo’s task force, said. “We should have been testing much more.” He added, “Failing to recognize [Covid] earlier is not a state failure. It’s a failure of the federal government.”
New York is a relatively wealthy state with the resources to buy a lot of tests. But if testing problems are originating in other states — a swab factory in Maine, for example — there’s only so much that New York can do. That forced New York, as well as other states, to engage in a bidding war for limited supplies, slowing how quickly any state could build up its testing capacity even if it was fully committed to the cause.
Trump’s failure to act even applies to the travel restrictions he often boasts about. While Trump focused on restricting travel from China in February and early March, New York’s infections largely originated in Europe. Only weeks after community spread likely began in the Northeast of the US did Trump restrict travel from Europe — and only partially. That was simply too little, too late.
So while states, including New York, made plenty of mistakes that led to worse Covid-19 outbreaks, Trump and the rest of the federal government made things much worse too.
New York is now doing the right things — and needs to keep doing them
The situation has improved dramatically in New York since the spring. Today, the state is in the bottom three for daily new cases, with a rate of 3 per 100,000 people. Its test positive rate is the third lowest in the country at less than 1 percent — an indication of a controlled outbreak.
Experts say Cuomo and other leaders in the state deserve a lot of credit for such outcomes. New York dramatically scaled up testing — with the third-highest testing rate, when controlling for population, among all states. It built up a contact tracing system. It imposed a masking mandate. It has, in general, adhered closely to expert advice and empirical data as it’s evolved and shifted.
Perhaps most importantly, Cuomo resisted what many other states did not: reopening too quickly. The state imposed strict regional metrics that localities have to meet to reopen, and it’s stuck with them. New York City still hasn’t allowed indoor dining or bars, both of which present a huge risk for Covid-19 transmission.
It’s a sharp contrast to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). He was the first in the country to close down his state but, under pressure from local and private actors, allowed counties to reopen more quickly, getting waivers that effectively allowed them to ignore the standards the state previously set. That allowed indoor dining, bars, and other risky indoor spaces to reopen — until cases exploded in California, forcing Newsom to eventually reel back.
“California was very aggressive early on,” Robinson, of Stanford, said. “But during the time that we were sheltering in place, we often didn’t ramp up as much testing and contact tracing — so that when people started to come back outside, there wasn’t a definite plan with how we were doing that.” She added, “People felt like we paid our penance, let’s go back to life as normal, not realizing that this is something we’re going to be dealing with for years.”
Cuomo, at least, hasn’t faced similar problems so far (though that could change if the state starts to reopen aggressively, experts warned).
There are factors beyond policy that have helped New York. Because the state suffered a massive outbreak in the spring, there’s likely some element of population immunity making it more difficult for cases to spread too widely as long as people follow some precautions. The public has helped, too, remaining cautious even as the state has reopened; a New York Times analysis, for example, found New York had some of the highest rates of mask-wearing in public of any state.
“Once we did [act], it’s truly an incredible testament to New Yorkers that we have been able to do what was needed to get where we are today,” Nash, of the City University of New York, said.
New York’s success in the aftermath of a deadly outbreak shows the need for continued and sustained vigilance. It’s not enough to merely push down cases and test positive rates — as many states did early in the summer — people also need to stay cautious and keep the spread of the virus from getting out of control again. Resisting temptation, such as with reopening risky indoor spaces like bars, is crucial.
The unfortunate reality is Covid-19 won’t go away until a vaccine or similar treatment is widely available. The fall and winter could be even worse as schools reopen, the cold pushes more Americans indoors, the holidays bring family and friends together around the country, and another flu season looms — all of which could warrant more vigilance, not less.
Covid-19, then, remains a constant threat. And if states want to avoid outbreaks as bad as New York’s, they could learn from what it did in the aftermath.


vox--2020-09-02--Mulan’s costumes are bright, dramatic, and (mostly) historically accurate

When Disney announced its plan to film a live-action adaptation of Mulan , some fans were disappointed to discover that its iconic musical sequences — from “ Reflection ” to “ I ’ ll Make a Man Out of You ” — wouldn ’ t make the cut .
Instead , the 2020 remake , out this week for an extra $ 30 on Disney+ , is slated to be more action-packed and cinematic , a creative decision that would distinguish the film from the whimsical subplots in the animated original .
For costume designer Bina Daigeler , though , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , drama , and color to Mulan ’ s world .
Her willowy creations , most of which are hand-dyed and -crafted , are eye-catching and crucial in setting the mood of the film : the purple wrap dress Mulan twirls into for her matchmaking appointment , the plain red robe that flutters in the wind as she rides on horseback , and the battle armor worn by the Hun invaders .
“ You can be more creative in live action with regards to costume design , and you can bring in so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vox in February .
( The movie was originally set to open in theaters on March 27 . )
“ We love the animated version , and it is an inspiration , of course , but I wanted much more visual costumes for this fantasy world.
” For this project , Daigeler studied the many iterations of clothing designs across Chinese history , although her primary inspiration came from the sartorial choices of the Tang dynasty ( spanning roughly from the 7th to 10th century ) .
The architecture and plot of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Women ’ s dresses typically featured elongated sleeves , with an emphasis on high waists , and the outfits generally consisted of “ very , very long floating garments ” that reached the ground .
She was also intentional in her use of color : Beyond the battlefield and training camp scenes , Daigeler had civilians wear bright , bold colors to inject a sense of joy and liveliness into the scenes .
Clothing in the Tang dynasty was characterized by bright colors and flowy materials ; government officials also wore uniforms featuring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and red , and it was common for women ’ s dresses to feature more than five colors .
“ There were no neutral tones , and we had a huge dyeing department to figure out color combinations , ” Daigeler said .
“ Some of the crew was worried that the costumes would be too colorful , but that is reflective of the Tang dynasty.
” Many of these pieces were individually hand-dyed , crafted , or embroidered , and she had to plan the clothing ’ s completion with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ focused on treating respectfully the details of Chinese culture , ” said Daigeler , who is German and has designed costumes for many Spanish and German films .
( She also worked on Hulu ’ s Mrs. America and The Zookeeper ’ s Wife . )
In the lead-up to the film ’ s original March release , some critics took issue with Disney ’ s lack of Chinese and , more broadly , Asian American talent behind the camera in its adaptation of a popular Chinese folk tale .
A Teen Vogue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting exposure to Chinese culture through European museum trips and a three-week stay in China to a study abroad trip , casting doubt on the level of authenticity the studio wanted to bring to Mulan .
“ What we ’ re seeing here is some of the growing pains of Hollywood wanting to be inclusive in terms of storytelling , and yet behind the scenes are not able to or wanting to , ” sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen previously told NBC News .
Regardless of Daigeler ’ s background , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her artistic range to interpret how the costumes should be , considering the movie ’ s intended worldwide release , said Gong Pan Pan , a Singapore-based Chinese fashion blogger .
Gong runs the website Hanfu Girl , where she photographs , researches , and blogs about traditional Chinese culture and fashion history .
“ Disney is appealing to more than the Chinese audience based in China , ” she told Vox in February .
“ They ’ re also trying to reach foreign-born Asians and Americans , who might not be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history and could identify a little more with a bit of Westernized interpretation.
” Vox asked Daigeler and Gong to break down certain notable costumes and design choices prior to Mulan ’ s release .
Daigeler constructed various costume prototypes while developing Mulan ’ s signature red robe look and battle wear .
Her goal was not purely aesthetic ; the costumes had to be “ as comfortable and supportive as possible for the actor in the action sequence , ” she said .
“ I think we had up to five different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underwater scene , for riding horseback , and for her stunts in the air.
” There were different types of armor for each action scene , and the pieces varied according to weight and color .
According to Gong , the red robe that Mulan wears is a generic design that is not particular to a specific period of Chinese history .
“ Red was not that difficult of a dye to obtain back then , ” she said .
“ In Chinese culture , red has always been one of its official @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things .
It ’ s definitely possible that [ soldiers like Mulan ] did wear it , either to symbolize their ties to the throne or to identify themselves from the tribes.
” In her research , Daigeler became mesmerized by the various types of wrap dresses seen throughout Chinese history .
“ I liked how we could make it cinematographic , her getting dressed , ” she said .
“ I wanted the matchmaking costume to show her beautiful body shape and be very feminine , compared to her other outfits.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meters of fabric to wrap and featured colorful hand embroidery of butterflies , magnolias , and a phoenix , which took weeks to make .
Mulan ’ s earrings and matchmaking getup seem to have incorporated sartorial elements of the Qing dynasty as well as the Tang , Gong noted : “ There ’ s a lot of fusion of different elements in the entire getup , from the embroidery to the motif .
Mulan also looks like an empress or an aristocrat , which is a bit out of place in terms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to wear.
” “ I was more surprised by her makeup and dress than anything else , ” Gong added .
“ It could be they were trying to make it look comical , like the animation .
The makeup application was a bit like what the ancient Chinese would do , when it comes to blending .
Although they did have crazy makeup back then , the face should appear blended , and they never paint on full lips.
” The armor worn by the Hun invaders and villains Throughout history , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and nomadic tribes , like the Mongols .
In the movie , the nomadic tribe led by Bori Khan primarily wore black leather to delineate the difference between the tribal armies and the imperial troops .
“ In the past , these leathers and skins were mainly used by nomadic tribes .
Over time , the Han Chinese did adopt leather for belts and shoes , ” Gong said .
“ For the movie , though , this differentiates the agrarian Han Chinese from the hunter nomads , who are on their horses.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Daigeler gave her a bird-like costume with silver scales , which included floor-sweeping sleeves , a chest plate , and an elaborate headdress .
“ I wanted to give her a costume she could fight in , and she uses her sleeves as a weapon , ” Daigeler said .
“ My idea for her crown was inspired by the skull of a hawk.
” Before the announcement of its September streaming release date , Disney twice delayed Mulan ’ s theatrical release , although the film will be shown in theaters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have Disney+ .
The studio also teased Christina Aguilera ’ s new rendition of “ Reflection ” in the streaming lead-up , although some fans criticized the steep price point and exclusive Disney+ release .
However , the months-long delay has generated excitement about the movie , and Daigeler ’ s costumes — whether they ’ re seen on the big or small screen — will have a starring role .
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
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When Disney announced its plan to film a live-action adaptation of Mulan, some fans were disappointed to discover that its iconic musical sequences — from “Reflection” to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” — wouldn’t make the cut. Instead, the 2020 remake, out this week for an extra $30 on Disney+, is slated to be more action-packed and cinematic, a creative decision that would distinguish the film from the whimsical subplots in the animated original.
For costume designer Bina Daigeler, though, it was an opportunity to add flair, drama, and color to Mulan’s world. Her willowy creations, most of which are hand-dyed and -crafted, are eye-catching and crucial in setting the mood of the film: the purple wrap dress Mulan twirls into for her matchmaking appointment, the plain red robe that flutters in the wind as she rides on horseback, and the battle armor worn by the Hun invaders.
“You can be more creative in live action with regards to costume design, and you can bring in so much more richness,” Daigeler told Vox in February. (The movie was originally set to open in theaters on March 27.) “We love the animated version, and it is an inspiration, of course, but I wanted much more visual costumes for this fantasy world.”
For this project, Daigeler studied the many iterations of clothing designs across Chinese history, although her primary inspiration came from the sartorial choices of the Tang dynasty (spanning roughly from the 7th to 10th century). The architecture and plot of the film also drew from that period. Women’s dresses typically featured elongated sleeves, with an emphasis on high waists, and the outfits generally consisted of “very, very long floating garments” that reached the ground.
She was also intentional in her use of color: Beyond the battlefield and training camp scenes, Daigeler had civilians wear bright, bold colors to inject a sense of joy and liveliness into the scenes. Clothing in the Tang dynasty was characterized by bright colors and flowy materials; government officials also wore uniforms featuring hues of purple, cyan, green, and red, and it was common for women’s dresses to feature more than five colors.
“There were no neutral tones, and we had a huge dyeing department to figure out color combinations,” Daigeler said. “Some of the crew was worried that the costumes would be too colorful, but that is reflective of the Tang dynasty.” Many of these pieces were individually hand-dyed, crafted, or embroidered, and she had to plan the clothing’s completion with the strict shooting timeline.
“I was focused on treating respectfully the details of Chinese culture,” said Daigeler, who is German and has designed costumes for many Spanish and German films. (She also worked on Hulu’s Mrs. America and The Zookeeper’s Wife.) In the lead-up to the film’s original March release, some critics took issue with Disney’s lack of Chinese and, more broadly, Asian American talent behind the camera in its adaptation of a popular Chinese folk tale. A Teen Vogue column likened Daigeler’s comments on getting exposure to Chinese culture through European museum trips and a three-week stay in China to a study abroad trip, casting doubt on the level of authenticity the studio wanted to bring to Mulan.
“What we’re seeing here is some of the growing pains of Hollywood wanting to be inclusive in terms of storytelling, and yet behind the scenes are not able to or wanting to,” sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen previously told NBC News.
Regardless of Daigeler’s background, it’s important to consider how Disney likely gave her artistic range to interpret how the costumes should be, considering the movie’s intended worldwide release, said Gong Pan Pan, a Singapore-based Chinese fashion blogger. Gong runs the website Hanfu Girl, where she photographs, researches, and blogs about traditional Chinese culture and fashion history.
“Disney is appealing to more than the Chinese audience based in China,” she told Vox in February. “They’re also trying to reach foreign-born Asians and Americans, who might not be able to differentiate between the subtleties of Chinese history and could identify a little more with a bit of Westernized interpretation.”
Vox asked Daigeler and Gong to break down certain notable costumes and design choices prior to Mulan’s release.
Mulan’s signature red robe and battle attire
Daigeler constructed various costume prototypes while developing Mulan’s signature red robe look and battle wear. Her goal was not purely aesthetic; the costumes had to be “as comfortable and supportive as possible for the actor in the action sequence,” she said. “I think we had up to five different types of armor for Mulan for the underwater scene, for riding horseback, and for her stunts in the air.” There were different types of armor for each action scene, and the pieces varied according to weight and color.
According to Gong, the red robe that Mulan wears is a generic design that is not particular to a specific period of Chinese history. “Red was not that difficult of a dye to obtain back then,” she said. “In Chinese culture, red has always been one of its official colors and it signifies a lot of things. It’s definitely possible that [soldiers like Mulan] did wear it, either to symbolize their ties to the throne or to identify themselves from the tribes.”
Mulan’s matchmaking outfit
In her research, Daigeler became mesmerized by the various types of wrap dresses seen throughout Chinese history. “I liked how we could make it cinematographic, her getting dressed,” she said. “I wanted the matchmaking costume to show her beautiful body shape and be very feminine, compared to her other outfits.” The dress was composed of about 12 meters of fabric to wrap and featured colorful hand embroidery of butterflies, magnolias, and a phoenix, which took weeks to make.
Mulan’s earrings and matchmaking getup seem to have incorporated sartorial elements of the Qing dynasty as well as the Tang, Gong noted: “There’s a lot of fusion of different elements in the entire getup, from the embroidery to the motif. Mulan also looks like an empress or an aristocrat, which is a bit out of place in terms of what her status would allow her to wear.”
“I was more surprised by her makeup and dress than anything else,” Gong added. “It could be they were trying to make it look comical, like the animation. The makeup application was a bit like what the ancient Chinese would do, when it comes to blending. Although they did have crazy makeup back then, the face should appear blended, and they never paint on full lips.”
The armor worn by the Hun invaders and villains
Throughout history, the Chinese frequently fought against northern invaders and nomadic tribes, like the Mongols. In the movie, the nomadic tribe led by Bori Khan primarily wore black leather to delineate the difference between the tribal armies and the imperial troops. “In the past, these leathers and skins were mainly used by nomadic tribes. Over time, the Han Chinese did adopt leather for belts and shoes,” Gong said. “For the movie, though, this differentiates the agrarian Han Chinese from the hunter nomads, who are on their horses.”
For the shape-shifting witch Xian Lang, Daigeler gave her a bird-like costume with silver scales, which included floor-sweeping sleeves, a chest plate, and an elaborate headdress. “I wanted to give her a costume she could fight in, and she uses her sleeves as a weapon,” Daigeler said. “My idea for her crown was inspired by the skull of a hawk.”
Before the announcement of its September streaming release date, Disney twice delayed Mulan’s theatrical release, although the film will be shown in theaters in China and other countries that don’t have Disney+. The studio also teased Christina Aguilera’s new rendition of “Reflection” in the streaming lead-up, although some fans criticized the steep price point and exclusive Disney+ release. However, the months-long delay has generated excitement about the movie, and Daigeler’s costumes — whether they’re seen on the big or small screen — will have a starring role.