I'm not sure how many people realize that New York, after a terrible start, now looks like European nations that have managed to resume a lot of normal life despite the pandemic 1/
Deaths were very high in the beginning, partly because we didn't know how to contain Covid-19, partly because of big policy errors. But now deaths are in the low single digits 2/ 
Not, in the end, all that different from, say, Belgium, even adjusting for somewhat smaller population 3/
And life is going on. Stores are open; no indoor dining but many restaurants have expanded outdoor seating into former parking lanes (Manhattan looking pretty Parisian these days). Lots of people out — almost all wearing masks 4/
Of course there's a great deal of hardship; many businesses have already gone under, and the end of unemployment supplements will mean disaster for many. But don't say that America was incapable of dealing with this; last I heard, NYC was part of America 5/
America's uniquely disastrous coronavirus response was about politics — a vicious incompetent in the White House and a ruling party that can't and won't do actual policy. With decent leadership Americans could have risen to the occasion 6/
