I think the problem of trying to find that out is that most if not all of the hard-hit jam-packed cities were hit with the double whammy of being in the more populous (and popular) states and of having lockdown orders on top of it. Closest thing I could get to a city approaching NYC levels population-wise within the seven states is Little Rock, Arkansas, and while its county has only about 6,000 cases and less than a hundred deaths, it's also a ridiculously small city compared to the heavy hitters (clocking in at barely below 200,000 people living there).
The real challenge, then, would be to find a city on NYC's level that's laissez-faire or at least more laissez-faire than the typical big metro. When you add in the complicating factor of protests/riots, it just gets confusing for me.
I think the problem of trying to find that out is that most if not all of the hard-hit jam-packed cities were hit with the double whammy of being in the more populous (and popular) states and of having lockdown orders on top of it. Closest thing I could get to a city approaching NYC levels population-wise within the seven states is Little Rock, Arkansas, and while its county has only about 6,000 cases and less than a hundred deaths, it's also a ridiculously small city compared to the heavy hitters (clocking in at barely below 200,000 people living there).
The real challenge, then, would be to find a city on NYC's level that's laissez-faire or at least more laissez-faire than the typical big metro. When you add in the complicating factor of protests/riots, it just gets confusing for me.