NYC, due to its population density, certainly has a higher potential for pandemic death than anywhere else in the US, but there's good reason to believe that NY didn't reach anywhere near that potential, due to the interventions taken by the community which prevented that from happening. We see much worse infection and death rates in some areas of the world with less dense population, due to different responses. So there's no reason to believe that the rest of the US can't get just as bad as NYC, and worse. And given the almost complete lack of response in some parts of the US, I think we'll get to see what that looks like; if not in the next few weeks, then in the fall when cold weather hits.
Things aren't normal here. I can definitely see how one might mistake things for being normal because businesses are opening up and people are going outside, but if you look more closely, about half of the shops and restaurants remain closed, and the places that are open are operating at half-capacity. If you talk to the business owners, things are rough. Some local businesses aren't staying open because they're making money, they're staying open because they lose less money by being open (which is a big difference). The hope is that they'll be able to start operating profitably again, but that's far from guaranteed.
I really doubt that we have insight yet into how this is going to play out.
7.3 million germans are currently fourloughed. That is 21% of the workforce!
The numbers demonstrate this. The pictures and essays from New York based journalists say something different.
Also, it's an election year, and that politicized decisions on reopening.
Here in Colorado, mostly business as usual, but kids are miserable because camps and pools are closed.