Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA, global director of ICAP, was consulted for an Oct 22 article in the Financial Times which reflects on the steps that led New York City into lock down at the start of the pandemic. The article is part of a Financial Times series, “Could the World Have Been Spared?” that in part, examines how New York City’s missteps led COVID-19 to overwhelm the US. Financial Times writes:
Within hours a blindsided Mr Cuomo was telling the press that he had no intention of quarantining any city. He feared that a sudden lockdown would cause “panic on the streets”, says Wafaa El-Sadr, of Columbia University’s public health department. And having warned of the “massive disruption” of a closure, he was infuriated that the mayor seemed to be proposing exactly that, with no plan.