Liberals trashed reporter Matthew Yglesias — for the second time in recent days — after learning that he had dared to venture outside to take a walk in the nice weather despite being infected with COVID.
Iglesias, who revealed on Fathers Day that he had contracted COVID, tweeted on Monday about taking a walk outside while the weather was nice.
“Me after spending all day walking around in nice weather: Manhattan is amazing, why did I ever leave? [checks real estate prices] Oh,” he tweeted.
Me after spending all day walking around in nice weather: Manhattan is amazing, why did I ever leave?
[checks real estate prices]
Oh.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 20, 2022
Yglesias continued his thread, wondering about how big New York City could potentially get in a “Yes, In My Back Yard” YIMBYtopia — that is, a city filled with people who were not opposed to excess development in order to keep housing costs manageable.
“Something I always wonder about is how big could Greater New York get in a YIMBYtopia? In theory there is supposed to be some balance point between agglomeration benefits and congestion disamenities, but real wages are already higher in Boston & DC so I’m a little skeptical,” he said, adding, “Given that the United States has so many more people than Japan, I think unconstrained New York should probably grow to be meaningfully larger than Tokyo — more than doubling the current population of the metro area.”
He went on to note that New York had “a lot of unused subway capacity” that, if updated and used efficiently, could bring the United States closer to the advanced transportation infrastructure in place in Japan.
“And the land use near existing commuter rail stations is total garbage. So there’s plenty of room for growth even without improving the infrastructure (which we should of course improve),” he concluded.
But despite his efforts to raise a legitimate question about urban planning and efficient use of transportation structures, critics quickly harped on Iglesias’ first comment about spending time outside and enjoying the weather.
“Shouldn’t you be isolating?”
Shouldn't you be isolating?
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) June 20, 2022
The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz, who had previously scolded Yglesias for joking about the fact that he tested positive for COVID on Fathers Day, quickly piled on.
“He should. People who walk around in public knowingly positive w/ a highly contagious deadly virus put those of us who are medically vulnerable at risk,” she said.
He should. People who walk around in public knowingly positive w/ a highly contagious deadly virus put those of us who are medically vulnerable at risk https://t.co/RAoVThDQZK
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 20, 2022
Lorenz had lashed out at Iglesias on Sunday for suggesting that COVID should have had “more respect” for Fathers Day. “Frankly, I think the virus should respect Father’s Day more than this,” Iglesias tweeted, followed by: “FYI, all future typos are due to long Covid.”
“I’m glad it’s a joke for u Matt and that you’re lucky enough to get access to great care, but for those who have had their lives destroyed by the virus and who have had loved ones die from or suffer w/ LC it’s not funny. Hope you can have a little more empathy, especially today,” Lorenz shot back.