Before revision:  Taking the example of COVID-19 data for New York City, we show that our model yields a significantly larger estimate for the initial basic reproduction rate than other models, much more accurately accounts for the dynamics of the epidemic after  restrictive public congregation measures were introduced, and provides a novel way to determine the incubation period .
After revision:  Taking the example of COVID-19 data for New York City, we show that our model yields a significantly larger estimate for the initial basic reproduction rate than other models, much more accurately accounts for the dynamics of the epidemic after sharp changes in R_0 due to restrictive public congregation measures were introduced, and provides a novel way to determine the incubation period .