Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Within states and regions, such as New England, that population profiles don’t follow state lines makes coherent and effective policies difficult  to put together,  especially in matters such as public health, for which the states have primary responsibility. While states may impose various (mostly unenforceable) rules to try to control the spread of COVID-19,  those rules may have little relationship with where and how people live.

Consider that western Massachusetts is far less economically and travel-wise connected with Greater Boston than are Rhode Island and southeastern New Hampshire, with their many commuters in and out of “The Hub.’’ And yet Massachusetts policymakers can’t impose rules that fully address that.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has gone further than any other governor in facing the fact that diseases don’t obey state borders by trying to collaborate closely with New Jersey and Connecticut in testing,  quarantine and travel rules. He’s accepting the obvious:  Southern New York State and much of the Garden and Constitution states are all in the same dense Greater New York City region.