"We are your future": Will all of America become like New York?

But not all public health experts share Cuomo’s certitude on the point of whether other parts of the country will soon experience outbreaks comparable to New York City’s. “Nobody knows the specific answer to that,” said Joseph Vinetz, an infectious diseases specialist at the Yale School of Medicine.

Indeed, POLITICO interviews with five leading public-health specialists indicated that while Cuomo’s point is well taken – there likely will be other places where the level of contagion will equal New York’s – there are also reasons to be hopeful that the transmission of the virus will be slower, and less widespread, in many parts of the country. Among the factors that make New York more vulnerable are its extensive public transportation system and its sheer size.

New York is both the country’s most populous city and its most densely populated.