In the last 30 years New York and its inhabitants have been the target of at least seven terrorist attacks, the most lethal in the summer of 2001, when two passenger planes crashed over the Twin Towers in the Financial District, causing more than 3,000 deaths.
But not even in its worst scenarios had the city gotten to its knees like now with the health crisis from the global pandemic caused by a microorganism invisible to human sight, known as coronavirus.
“It is a complicated decision for which we had no option,” said the mayor visibly dismayed. Bill De Blasio, by announcing the measures that practically suggested that New Yorkers stay in their homes.
From yesterday until Sunday, April 19, all schools in the city will be closed and the online classes, which should start on Monday, March 23, make it very likely that the school year will end virtually. The prohibition for any massive event, be it religious, musical, sporting or shows, is maintained, as well as that of bars and restaurants from operating at 50 percent of its capacity, when not to sell food just to go.
Most of the emblematic sites of Manhattan woke up to comply with the decision of the authorities. On the corner of Mott and Chester, where the Chinese and Italian neighborhoods meet, any day of the week is packed with tourists. But this Monday a few wander about, stopping at the corners, turning to both sides as in the gif of the embarrassed John Travolta from Pulp Fiction.
Of the few industries that did not stop was construction, where the majority of the workers are Mexican and Latino. Thus, during rush hour entry and exit, the dusty uniforms of masons and electricians predominated in the subway.
A few children came to the parks accompanied by their babysitters and nowhere do you see teenagers, experts in elopement in virtuality. And of course there are hardly any senior citizens on the streets of Manhattan, according to health authorities, the most vulnerable in this crisis.
The behavior of the virus was unusual, since only on March 1 the first case of someone who returned from Iran was detected in Manhattan and the next day one more. On Saturday 14, the first death occurred and the following day De Blasio announced another four more deaths within the 329 infected.
More fearful of life than death and with different capacities for apocalyptic scenarios, the hundreds of homelessChess players and weed smokers took the benches available in many parks such as Union and Washington Square on Monday. In the theater district in Times Square, the Phantom of the Opera seems to wander the empty streets and performances to see musicals such as Frozen were as frozen as the characters of Ana and Elsa.
In fiction, the city has been attacked countless times, since King Kong escaped from his captors to cause destruction especially in the Midtown area. Giant stars and comets have chosen the island of Manhattan for their target and the place has been equally attractive for Kryptonians who wanted to attack Superman or aliens who wanted to start the destruction of the planet by the Big Apple (Independence Day).
Used to receiving, on average, 12 million visitors a year, New York is a city designed for services that are now almost entirely stopped. Without its glamor, the music that plays in each space and its thousands of restaurants operating non-stop, the city that never sleeps now takes a nap awaiting better news.
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