New York. Pictures of empty streets in the otherwise bustling metropolis of New York have caused a sensation worldwide. With more than 100,000 infected people and 10,000 fatalities, it is more in focus in the Corona crisis than any other large city in the world. But even if the situation calms down a bit and the numbers rise more slowly, life for 8.5 million people is still upside down.
Nevertheless, everyday life in the pandemic continues, even for five Germans. They talk about surviving the illness, about their doctorate via video exam, about financial worries and the future of their beloved home.
The saxophonist: Timo Vollbrecht
Timo Vollbrecht actually wanted to spend March on a European tour. The saxophonist was already on the plane and the crew in New York were making final preparations when his cell phone rang. “It was a friend’s turn and told me that the US had just imposed an entry ban on Europeans. I jumped up immediately, grabbed my saxophone from the overhead bin and just wanted to get out of the plane – but they didn’t let me.”
So the 35-year-old, who has lived in New York for around ten years, flew to Frankfurt – and immediately back the next day, before the entry ban came into effect. Vollbrecht and his wife now spend their time in their shared apartment in Brooklyn and only go outside to go shopping, jogging or walking. The musician teaches himself new pieces on the saxophone, writes songs for his new album, continues to give courses at New York University – now online – and has even just passed his doctoral examination online.
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The laundromat owner. Corinna Williams
Only “necessary” shops are currently allowed to be open in New York – and laundromats are a part of this in the metropolis, where very few have a washing machine at home. Nevertheless, everything is different at the moment with “Celsious” in the Williamsburg district. Usually the laundromat and the attached café are teeming with people. Now the café is closed and the owners, Corinna and Theresa Williams, who grew up in Bavaria, take their customers’ laundry at the front door and hand it over again, once washed – all under strict hygiene conditions.
“We are doing well under the circumstances,” says Corinna Williams, who opened the store in 2017 with her sister. “We are healthy and we are trying to run our business in this completely new reality.” You help meditate daily, says the 34-year-old. And because the laundromat has shorter opening times during the crisis, she is more often at home with her husband.
Assistant director: Nicholas Weigand-Suminski
Nicholas Weigand-Suminski has Prospect Park in his Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn just around the corner. The 35-year-old is too full there during the day during Corona times. “So my wife and I found a good sanctuary in Greenwood Cemetery,” he says. Despite its morbid charm, you can take a responsible walk in the narrow metropolis without endangering yourself or others.
In his job as an assistant director in the New York film and television industry, Weigand-Suminski was lucky that his last project just ended before the extensive exit restrictions were imposed. The man from Lower Franconia spends his time during the Corona crisis playing guitar, among other things.
Die Doula: Stephanie Heintzeler
Stephanie Heintzeler survived Covid-19. The disease was relatively mild for her, says Heintzeler, who grew up in Hessen. In the meantime, the 43-year-old was even in the hospital to be tested for antibodies and to offer herself as a blood plasma donor.
Heintzeler is a trained midwife and works as a doula in New York. In the USA, doulas provide non-medical care for women during pregnancy as well as during and after childbirth. Fortunately, no births were due for the duration of her illness, and Heintzeler was able to advise her customers by phone or email. However, the number of new inquiries had “decreased completely”.
The book expert: Uli Beutter Cohen
The subway is usually a part of Uli Beutter Cohen’s life. On her successful Instagram profile “Subway Book Review”, the 38-year-old portrays people in the subway and the books they read. “It breaks my heart to have to say that, but I haven’t ridden the subway for more than 50 days,” says Beutter Cohen. “I was sick at the very beginning of this Corona crisis and then decided to go into quarantine.”
So far, Beutter Cohen does not know whether the coronavirus has made her sick, but she assumes it is. Her health is now fine, she says, but financially the crisis is a great challenge. “I had to make drastic changes to keep Subway Book Review going, and it’s hard work. But it brings a lot of joy right now, and that’s very important.”
She also sees an opportunity in the crisis, says Beutter Cohen. “All people are currently facing the same problem and asking themselves the same question: How should we go on? This offers us the rare opportunity to change living conditions and systems that have actually always been broken and to ask: What should our new world look like “Let’s make them fairer, let’s create a future in which all people and our environment have a real opportunity.”
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