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伦敦——没有一个城市能躲过2019冠状病毒病的致命传播。但是，即使在同一个城市，病毒对不同的人群造成了不均衡的影响。当纽约市成为全球疫情爆发的中心时，曼哈顿市中心的感染率约为每10万人中的925人。相比之下，在皇后区每10万人则有4125人受感染。导致差距的原因很简单。纽约最富有的居民能享受一系列医疗服务，并在宽敞的多层建筑中远程工作。
在每个大城市，一个人的所在地深刻地塑造了他的命运。若乘坐地铁，曼哈顿和皇后区相距不到二十五分钟的路程，但他们之间的年收入中位数相差78000美元，相当惊人。再者，城市各行政区之间的预期寿命差异可能高达十年。世界大多数的大都市在收入、健康、教育和几乎所有衡量生活质量的指标上仍存在持续的不平等。冠状病毒将使这些差距进一步扩大。
在世界范围内，比起人口密集的城市，过度拥挤、被边缘化的社区在遏制病毒蔓延方面面临更大的挑战。特别是在发展中国家的建成区，比起自然地理，社会经济因素更是决定传染风险的关键因素。据估计，孟买700万贫民窟居民中有一半以上已受冠状病毒感染。在南非，约500万个家庭没有冰箱，只有46%的家庭有抽水马桶，三分之一的家庭与其他家庭共用厕所。因此，尽管采取了严厉的封锁措施，新感染病例激增的消息或许也见怪不怪。
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