NEW YORK | Despite COVID-19 hitting New York again, the “city that never sleeps” celebrated New Year’s Eve in the iconic Times Square in the heart of Manhattan, which was animated by the famous lowering of the crystal ball at midnight and, this year, by the swearing in of the new mayor, Eric Adams.
• Read also: The world celebrates a second New Year under the shadow of COVID-19
On December 31, 2020, after terrible months of the coronavirus epidemic, the colorful event, renowned around the world and where music reigns, was held in a virtually empty Times Square plaza.
This year, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio kept his promise to get the party back on track, and at 11:59 p.m. he kicked off the countdown to a crowd limited to 15,000, down from the 60,000 who are usually there — all masked and vaccinated.
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The Times Square ball
As every year, it took 60 s to bring down from a 20 m pylon a geodesic sphere, illuminated, covered with crystal, measuring 3.5 m in diameter and weighing more than five tons. At midnight sharp, the ball in Times Square went out to make way for a brief fireworks display under the cheers and kisses of the revelers.
According to tradition, more than 1.3 tons of confetti carrying New Year’s wishes was then thrown from the roofs of the buildings bordering Times Square.
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The spectacle thrilled 12-year-old Taliyah Green and her family, who drove 23 hours from Florida to watch the ball release: “This experience, the lights, the beautiful scenery and seeing the people like that, it’s really beautiful,” exclaimed the teenager.
And COVID-19 has not discouraged American tourists, quite the contrary.
Like a couple of African-Americans who came specially from Memphis (Tennessee): “Seeing the ball drop is our dream, and we got vaccinated for that”, admits in front of the AFPTV Chroni Spokes.
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Convinced, they get vaccinated
“At first glance, we didn’t want to be vaccinated, but when we read the rules from the health authorities, we did it just to come here,” admits the young woman.
Faced with the surge in contaminations with the Omicron variant in recent weeks and faced with the fear of reliving the nightmare of 2020 when New York was the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic, the City and the State of New York are betting everything on vaccination and testing.
On Friday, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul reported that in the past 24 hours, more than 76,500 people have tested positive for the coronavirus, with nearly 340,000 tests performed, a new state record. of 20 million inhabitants.
Nearly 8,000 patients are hospitalized there.
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Mckenzie Lillard also came specially for the occasion from Denver, and with her vaccine reminder, she feels less “worried”.
In addition to the context of COVID-19, Times Square was also the scene this year, just after midnight, of the transfer of power between outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams, a former African-American police officer elected on November 2 to its program to fight against crime and socio-economic inequalities in this megalopolis of approximately nine million inhabitants, an incredible social and cultural mosaic.
Oath on the Bible
Mr Adams, holding up the portrait of his late mother, took the oath on the Bible, alongside his family.
Party-goers had started gathering by mid-afternoon in this iconic Manhattan plaza, where New Year’s Eve has been celebrated since the start of the 20e century.
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Times Square, at the intersection of Broadway and 42e Street, is illuminated day and night by the signs of theaters, music halls, neon lights and giant advertising screens, and this district has given New York its reputation as the “city that never sleeps”. But the cultural and economic capital of the United States has not regained its legendary effervescence before the health crisis.
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