March 18, 2020 – 6:21 am Clock
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by Hanna Klouth from New York (USA)
It’s just past 7 p.m. and people are just rushing from work to the thousands of restaurants and bars this city has to offer. I’m almost alone on the street. Only a few blocks away from my apartment on Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side there is bar after bar, restaurant after restaurant. Now they are all empty. It’s the first day bars, restaurants, are completely closed. Ironically, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. A day on which bars and clubs are usually bursting at the seams. Close, partying people, close together – not this year.
Empty tourist buses, closed museums and Broadway with no shows
Unusual sight in everyday life, normality due to the corona virus: an empty café
© RTL
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Cafes and coffee chains have cleared their furniture. Just don’t let anyone sit down after they’ve got their coffee to go. Otherwise, they will face high penalties. The streets have been emptier for days, and so have the subways. Tourist buses, Times Square, New York’s tourist magnet par excellence, as if swept empty. The famous Broadway with its shows have long since ceased to take place here. The city’s museums are closed. The feeling of walking through this city has changed noticeably. Many have become more cautious, including Linda. “It’s really a challenge not to freak out now,” she tells me. She is a dog sitter and is currently doing her neighbor’s. At least she still has that, she tells me. That makes her feel good.Trump has changed his tactics
I notice that most of them travel alone, at most in pairs. At least in my neighborhood. It was only on Monday that the president announced new guidelines in the fight against the virus, including avoiding groups larger than ten people.
In general: the president has changed his tactics. Only last week he advised the Americans “it will pass, just stay calm”. Trump now holds a daily press conference with his crisis team and has noticeably changed his language. “We have to fight against this hitherto unknown enemy,” said Trump this week and now wants to strengthen the economy with a billion dollar package. And assure help directly. In the next few weeks, checks are to be sent directly to Americans who are already suffering financially from this crisis.
“We really care what happens after that”
–Glance into a closed bar, there is a sign on the door
© RTL
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This is exactly what so many fear here: the crisis after the crisis. New York lives from bars, restaurants, the feeling of being alive. To be able to go to a party any day of the week, no matter what time, whether before or after work. To get everything you want in this city at any minute, any second. All of this is great luxury, no question about it. But it’s also the existence of thousands of New Yorkers. An existence that is no longer there overnight. Restaurants, bars, small shops, many will not be able to survive this shutdown financially and will not be able to reopen. Employees will lose their jobs or have already lost them. “We’re really worried about what will happen after that,” Jessica and Ash tell me, “it’s good that we’re shutting everything down first and maybe that should have happened earlier. But maybe it’s still in time for the effects afterwards to be able to keep within limits. ” Incidentally, I met both of them while they were waiting for their food in front of a restaurant – to take away. That’s how many do it. New York’s mayor no longer rules out a curfew. New York and its residents have to rearrange life. It will be different when the city that actually never sleeps suddenly sleeps.
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