HIGH DENSITY KILLS DURING PANDEMICS

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       America is now in its fifth month of the COVID-19 pandemic, and America’s most dense cities have been hit the hardest with COVID-19, while the areas with more room have gone almost untouched. We see that playing out here in Collin County.
        As of July 25th, Plano has the most number of cases of COVID in Collin County with 1,500 confirmed cases and 17 deaths. The town with the least number of cases in Collin County is New Hope with only 1 confirmed case and zero deaths.
       Plano is the largest city in Collin County with a population of about 287,677 and growing. In relation, New Hope has a population of 614 and is still very rural.
     Plano is much more dense than New Hope. According to the website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plano,_Texas 
Plano currently has 3,629.1 people per square mile and 1,448.6 housing units per square mile, while New Hope has just 460.7 people per square mile and 169.1 housing units per square mile. To get an idea of what a square mile looks like in Plano, I have added a picture at the bottom of this post of a map depicting one area of Plano. The part in blue is 1 mile. You should take note that this area includes the Collin Creek Mall campus, which is currently being redeveloped with high density living units.  
         Another example of a city that has low COVID cases is the city of Parker. Parker currently has 21 confirmed COVID-19 cases and zero deaths. The difference between Parker and Plano, is Parker’s zoning requires houses to have at least a one acre lot. Furthermore, Parker has only a population of 3,811, and it’s density is 482 people per square mile.
     Numbers suggest the worst cities hit by COVID-19 are the largest and the densest. A prime example of this is New York City. It has some of the highest total numbers of COVID cases. According to NYC Health government website, as of July 26, 2020 at 1:00 pm, NYC has a total of 220,266 COVID-19 cases and 18,862 deaths. NYC has a population of 8,336,817 and a density of 27,755.25 people per square mile.
        The evidence is clear, the higher the density the more risk for COVID-19. The lower the density the less risk for COVID-19. Of course this holds true for all illnesses that can be spread from human to human, as the more people living closer together, the more illness.
      This is one reason why interest in home ownership is up. We also see people wanting to get away from large cities and move to the suburbs as a result of COVID. People want to spread out.
The best thing Plano can do as a result of COVID-19 is to make sure the city’s density does not grow any larger. It would also be wise to give enough space between new homes in the future. Squeezing us in like a pack of sardines has proven to be bad for our health.