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SARS, MERS, Coronavirus. As the global population increases and more people pack into urban centers, I think deadly pandemics are going to be more of a thing. I’d much rather be in my spread out suburban cul de sac with my own ventilation system than being packed into a 30 story apartment building and having to rely on a crowded subway to get to work. I feel sorry for the people in Wuhan, China who have been prisoners in their tiny apartments for over a month. If worse came to worse over here, people living in suburban cul da sac’s could still pull out of their attached garages and drive to a beautiful beach or isolated mountain area for the day to get some fresh air. Living in Manhattan will literally trap you as a prisoner in your own home. Henry Ford and Robert Moses were ahead of their time.
It's a valid point. Every day in the Metro I feel like the long-term chances of not catching a widespread virus are minimal. There's people coughing everywhere and if it's even half crowded you can't really escape it as you have no control over who you share your space with.
When they say that half the population will have had Coronavirus before all is said and done, I imagine that the rate will be much higher in the urban centers.
Coronavirus really illustrates a good few of the vulnerabilities of 21st century life such as our dependence on uninterrupted global supply chains due to outsourced manufacturing of pretty much all goods, the way global travel allows diseases, that in the old days took years to spread across the world, to do so in just a couple of weeks.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JR_C
Do you work from home, or with very few other people? Do you have your groceries delivered? Do you have kids in school?
Unless you're a hermit, you can't escape encountering thousands of people--either directly or indirectly--every day.
True, being out in the suburbs or even rural area may have some advantages in avoiding contact with people but doesn't make you immune. In our area, a small exurban city, the local elementary school had 165 kids out yesterday, just because the parents were scared. Now with 37% Asian population there are immigrant people here from China, working at Amazon or Microsoft, though most are from India.
row after row of sterile cookie cutter poorly built houses, selling as expensive as urban townhomes
far away from everything (the bad of rural), yet still under 5 feet from your neighbor's wall (the bad of urban).
complete car dependency, isolation, sedentary lifestyle and bad health
I’d prefer to take my chances rather than live in a “sac.”
I feel the same way.
Also, people that live in cul-de-sacs do come into contact with many people when buying groceries, shopping for things in general, at work, eating in restaurants, going to the post-office, and the kids are still in school and doing sports and other activities.
I don't think living in a 'sac' will save my life.
SARS, MERS, Coronavirus. As the global population increases and more people pack into urban centers, I think deadly pandemics are going to be more of a thing.
Ultimately true. Whenever any species overpopulates and the population density gets too high, nature always finds a way to cull the herd. It's a universal law that applies to field mice, birds, lemmings, and humans.
Also, people that live in cul-de-sacs do come into contact with many people when buying groceries, shopping for things in general, at work, eating in restaurants, going to the post-office, and the kids are still in school and doing sports and other activities.
I don't think living in a 'sac' will save my life.
Having occasional contact with people in the suburbs is not even close to the number of people you cross paths with when you live in a walkable city. I lived in Manhattan for years. There are people in your face every second of the day. All the errands you mentioned are done by car in the suburbs, not on foot or by train or bus or using packed elevators with thousands of other people. Go stand on a subway platform at rush hour, and then get on a packed, standing room only train. In the city, you have to do this twice a day, every day. Now, I get in my car and drive to work without having contact with another person for 20 minutes.
It is not even close. The suburbs are going to have less chance of transmission vs a city.
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