What to Know
- New York City is preparing for the return of between 200,000 and 400,000 workers effective Monday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says schools can hold outdoor graduations starting June 26, but capped at 150 people
- House of worship in NY will be able to open to 25% occupancy in Phase II; New York City will enter Phase I of reopening on Monday
- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut topped 40,000 coronavirus deaths this week. Officials acknowledge the actual toll is likely much higher
The city that never sleeps had a curfew for much of last week. Famous stores were boarded up after days of unrest. The lights are out on Broadway theaters, and the subway no longer runs overnight.
But after three bleak months, New York City will try to turn a page when it begins reopening Monday after getting hit first by the coronavirus, then an outpouring of rage over racism and police brutality.
Between 200,000 and 400,000 workers are expected to return. Many of those employees will return to a transit system that’s seen a 90% drop in ridership over the course of the pandemic and faces questions on how to maintain social distancing. The MTA installed new, no-touch payment scanners in half its subway stations to help prevent some contact, and is asking City Hall for 60 miles of priority bus lanes in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Staten Island.
With the virus in check — at least for now — New York is easing restrictions that shut down schools, businesses and much of city life in March.
Protests happening all over New York City have created a new layer of uncertainty for some businesses as they look to reopen. Checkey Beckford reports.
Construction, manufacturing, wholesalers and previously “nonessential” retailers can resume work, with restrictions. Retailers can reopen for delivery and pickup, though customers can’t yet browse inside.
It’s an inflection point as the city tries to get back to business after becoming the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, suffering a surge that killed more than 500 people a day at its early-to-mid-April peak. Overall, more than 21,000 people citywide have died of confirmed or probable COVID-19. One of the most recent deaths include NYPD Chief of Transportation William T. Morris, Commissioner Dermot Shea said Sunday.
The mayor expects hundreds of thousands more to return when the city enters Phase II, which he said Thursday could happen in early July. He has already laid out an outdoor dining plan to help restaurants prepare for that next step.
Subway ridership is ticking back up after plunging from 5.4 million rides per weekday in February to under 450,000 in April, the MTA says.
Commuters will find subway schedules back to usual Monday, with signs showing people how far apart to stand — or try to — on platforms. The 1 a.m.-to-5 a.m. shutdowns that began in early May will continue so trains can be cleaned.
But as the city tries to recover economically, will the virus strike back?
“It’s going to be a big test,” said Dr. Bruce Polsky, a city resident who is chairman of medicine at NYU Winthrop Hospital in suburban Mineola.
Facing problems that range from creating social distancing on the subway to restoring public confidence in police, can the city regroup? Can New Yorkers?
“As a city, we are ready to be back, start going out, living life — with the new reality, though,” of masks and 6-foot separation, said Manhattan chef Edwin Arce, 31. “The new normal.”
Arce was heartened to see more customers than expected when it reopened this week for takeout and delivery.
Sam Solomon wonders how normal that will be.
“I don’t know if it’s ever going to be like it was,” said Solomon, 22, who has a health-related job.
After months of relative isolation, “it’s going to be an adjustment being around so many people,” said the native New Yorker, who never thought she’d have to get used to crowds.
The city has already reawakened somewhat as warm weather drew people outdoors, more restaurants offered carryout service, and most recently, as thousands of people marched in protests sparked by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a new mobile COVID testing program Friday that will bring tests to New Yorkers’ own front door.
Region by Region Status
Months of social distancing, mask-wearing, hand-washing, shock and fear have made New Yorkers better prepared to keep the coronavirus under control, health experts said.
Yet Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist who had COVID-19 himself in March, is concerned the virus might spread at the protests following Floyd’s May 25 death.
The virus’ toll — in lives, despair and exhaustion — weighs on him: “It’s very difficult to see how we recover.”
Some retailers, meanwhile, boarded up stores after demonstrations were marred by a few nights of smash-and-grab thefts in Manhattan and some other areas last week.
Saks Fifth Avenue girded its windows with plywood, chain-link fence and razor wire. Macy’s says it’s “taking things day by day” concerning when to start curbside service at its iconic flagship store, which was broken into a week ago.
An 8 a.m.-to-5-p.m. curfew was lifted Sunday, a day earlier than initially planned.
After all the loss and sacrifice, Monday’s milestone comes when public attention is focused on the protests, demands for police reform and anger over officers’ conduct toward demonstrators.
Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed Sunday to speed discipline for problem officers and shift some money from policing to social services. But he also emphasized Monday’s reopening as “a moment that every New Yorker should celebrate.”
Urban policy expert Jonathan Bowles questions whether the city has been clear enough about what’s safe and what to expect.
“All eyes will be on New York this next couple of months,” said Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “The city now has to prove that it really knows what it’s doing, that it can still be a dense city like New York and yet figure this out.”
Of course, New York City has had to prove itself before — after its population decline and fiscal crisis in the 1970s, after its 1980s-’90s crime peak, after 9/11.
“You can’t keep us down,” says Carlo Scissura, president of the New York Building Congress, a construction-industry group. “We may go down a little bit, but we go right back up.”
