New York is only at the beginning of the corona epidemic. Public life has come to a standstill, but the situation with 12,000 infected people is still manageable. But that will change – but the optimism remains unbroken.
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Yellow daffodils, white snowdrops, purple crocuses: Spring has broken out in New York’s Central Park. The sun is shining from the sky, guitar music sounds over the meadows. “I play here to ease the tension a little,” says the street musician in the black coat and smiles exhausted. “And of course, because otherwise I don’t see any possibility at all of making even a little more money.”
Because this isn’t a normal spring day in New York’s most popular park. Significantly fewer people than usual are on the road and always only in pairs, alone or with children. Many wear masks or hold scarves over their faces. Everyone keeps their distance and evades each other – as good as possible in the most densely populated city in the USA.
– “The city will survive”: A man with a protective mask in New York’s Times Square © Kena Betancur / AFP
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The corona crisis came quickly and drastically
The Corona crisis has arrived in New York – and it did so quickly and drastically: On March 1, the virus was detected for the first time in Manhattan, around three weeks later the number of cases is already more than 12,000 – also due to a surge in tests. That is significantly more than in the rest of the country, where, however, much less is tested. Around 125 people have already died in the city as a result of being infected with the virus.
The metropolis is increasingly becoming a source of fire in the corona crisis in the USA: US Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday evening (local time) in the White House that 60 percent of all new cases in the USA now come from the New York area. The infection rate in the east coast metropolis is one in a thousand – around five to ten times higher than in the equally badly affected state of Washington on the west coast of the USA. Pence called on New Yorkers who have left the city to put themselves into a 14-day self-quarantine. “We have to consider Greater New York City a high risk area.”
The three weeks since the first case have radically changed New York – the city that normally literally never sleeps. As the corona numbers continued to climb every day, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the city to take an increasingly severe “break”: All schools, universities, fitness studios and “non-essential” businesses are now closed. The lights are out on the famous Broadway, the luxury boutiques on Fifth Avenue are closed, cultural institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall are closed.
World-famous places such as Times Square, Grand Central Station or the Brooklyn Bridge, where millions of New Yorkers jostle between tourists taking photos every day, are often almost deserted. Buses and subways run but only a few people, playgrounds are open but often empty.
Soon the hospitals will be overloaded
“The city is suffering,” says Sanel Huskanovic. “The energy is gone.” The 38-year-old, who was born in Bosnia and later came to Germany as a war refugee, usually runs a travel agency, mainly for German-speaking tourists, very close to Times Square. But since an entry ban from Europe to the USA came into effect in mid-March and his last guests left a few days ago, he has been spending the time mainly watching TV or jumping rope on his roof terrace. Or he walks through the largely empty streets and takes pictures and videos that he publishes online. “I don’t hear horns anymore in New York – and when the horns are gone, life is a little bit lost too.”
The prospects are bleak: the virus is likely to have spread extensively among the people of the metropolis in recent weeks. Almost 30 percent of the tests come back positive, according to Deborah Birx, Coronavirus coordinator for the White House – in the rest of the country, this average is 8 percent. Governor Cuomo warns that it will not be long before hospitals will no longer be able to treat all corona patients in need. A US Navy hospital ship is on its way to the port of the city, several makeshift hospitals are to be set up.
Few of them expect an improvement or a reopening of the schools this school year. “April will be worse than March,” Mayor de Blasio said recently. “And I’m afraid May will be even worse than April.” Nobody really wants to imagine the extent of the effects on the actually booming economy of the metropolis these days. Are all these businesses that have just closed their doors and even barricaded up in some places with cardboard or plywood, really open again? What happens to all the people who are about to lose their jobs? Will the cultural and tourism institutions survive?
New York cannot be denied optimism and a good mood
But this is still New York, says travel agency manager Huskanovic. “And I’m thrilled when I go out and see that people still have smiles on their faces and are still in the mood for jokes.” In the past 20 years alone, the metropolis has survived the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the financial crisis of 2008 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – and has always emerged stronger.
New York, shaped by hard-working immigrants from all over the world, does not let its mood, optimism and willingness to help. “Cheer up,” says a sign on a store on the Upper East Side. “A wonderful world lies ahead of us”. On the Upper West Side, a “naturally disinfected” puzzle is offered on house steps. “We all need entertainment now”. A few corners away, a small hardware store offers a pair for free to anyone who needs plastic gloves and cannot afford them. Those who can support restaurants, cafés, pubs and cultural institutions by purchasing vouchers – or take part in their events online.
“The city will survive and not only that, it will also bring something positive out of this crisis, I’m sure – some idea, some business,” says travel agency manager Huskanovic. “If one city finds itself again, it’s New York.”
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