You’re right on one point. New York’s case counts early on weren’t accurate and can’t be compared to states today. It’s likely that with proper testing, New York would have had 40-100k cases a day at their peak.
But you’re wrong everywhere else. New York had a massive issue before they even knew what hit them. The state of testing in the USA was horrid at the time. Health experts weren’t recommending masks. People (like you) were promoting hydroxychloroquine. (Though to your credit, I do recall your promoting masks early on)
New York went into a lockdown 4 weeks before their deaths peaked.
Basically, NYC got dealt a terrible hand.
As a center of travel, a city with one of the highest densities in the USA, and a subway system that likely allowed this to explode in a population not prepared for it, NYC was screwed from the start.
Yet despite that, they locked down FOUR WEEKS BEFORE their peak deaths hit.
So in a lot of ways they did a beautiful job of taking a horrific situation, and making the best of it.
Florida, Texas, California and similar states have no excuses for what’s happening now. They saw what happened in NY, and are STILL not doing what NY did.
These southern states have some advantages. Lower density, many in the population are scared and are staying home, many wear masks, it’s humid, we know more about the virus now, and there is a supply of remdesivir (which has some benefit)
Deapite all those advantages, their situations are deteriorating to a point where many cities could possibly have similar per capita death rates.