Where Do You Draw the Line? by Martine Hackett
In the spring of 2020, New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in America. The net out-migration from the city increased by an estimated 130,837 from March 2020 through June 2021, as compared to pre-pandemic trends. People moved out of the city to avoid the spread of disease in crowded spaces, seeking safety and space in the suburbs. Residents from the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods were the most likely to leave. By leaving the city to avoid this infectious virus and terrifying disease, the people who left followed a pattern that has existed for hundreds of years. Fleeing dense urban spaces for the clean air, open space, and the healing properties of nature. What they did was cross a line, between city and suburb, a line that was not physical but psychological, that holds significance in its power to separate. The practice of public health has long seen that separating or using what was originally a public health term, segregating the sick from the well can...