In the United States, the Covid-19 pandemic has never wreaked more havoc than in recent weeks: at least 2,000 deaths daily and more than 200,000 infections each day, on average.
In New York, in particular, the city worst hit by the new coronavirus, the epidemic has been on the rise for months and if the figures do not reach those of last spring (far from it), they worry the authorities.
Theaters closed, restaurants in agony… Winter promises to be long for the metropolis, which had nevertheless started to wake up this summer. Report by our correspondent Loig Loury.
“Everything that made life normal… over”
Forgotten, New Year’s Eve in Time Square with 750,000 people, for the transition to 2020. A few days ago, only a handful of essential workers had been invited for the famous New Year’s show.
In the giant screen square, tourists are still desperately absent and for good reason: in addition to international travel restrictions, the 41 Broadway theaters are closed, at least until next summer.
Clara, former actress, crossed in Time Square confides:
I think of all those artists who have rehearsed and can no longer play. Well… they can, “virtually”, but you know it’s different to have an audience in front of you. Everything that made life normal… over. Only disappointment remains.
According to the Broadway League, a local organization, the cultural life of the neighborhood generated before the crisis nearly 100,000 jobs, actors, dressmakers, impresarios, but also valets, souvenir sellers or hotel managers, most of whom have remained in the dark. .
The shows alone, moreover, brought in, during the last full season, between 2018 and 2019, nearly two billion dollars.
Tim is at the head of Broadway Up Close, which offered neighborhood tours before the health crisis, so he saw his world collapse but he has since been able to rebound, since he now organizes virtual tours. He considers himself one of the lucky ones, compared to all his colleagues:
We really realize how important Broadway is… on a larger scale for the economic ecosystem of New York… and more particularly for the heart of Manhattan… The theaters are closed… and suddenly, all the businesses around are too . In the surrounding neighborhoods, life is gradually returning. Having said that, it’s different for restaurants.
But it is undoubtedly the restaurants that are paying the heaviest price for the health crisis in New York. In October, the overwhelming majority of establishments (those that had not closed) were thus already unable to pay rent.
Irene is the owner of Kellogg’s, a famous diner in the Williamsburg neighborhood. Last month, a second citywide ban on indoor service prompted her to sue authorities. Because the Kellogg’s, badly located, without an outdoor terrace, is condemned to death. “Especially now, with winter. For the first confinement, it was milder, it was different, people were going out. Now with this cold? everyone stays at home. This closure is more disastrous than the first“, she explains.”The governor, the mayor, took away our right to earn our living. They took everything from us“, she adds.
A city in full change, for the worse, and the better: the metropolis is reinventing itself thanks to new solidarities. “The city has survived many different versions of itself,” says an op-ed from The Atlantic, evoking September 11, Hurricane Sandy or the subprime crisis in 2008.
Aaron Webber, whose family business owns dozens of business premises (restaurants, grocery stores, laundromats, etc.) has let his tenants pay what they could in recent months, hoping that the house of cards does not collapse.
SOUND “We’re running a Chinese restaurant… which hasn’t paid rent since March…
But we were nice… we chat… and the owner has a house in China…
She sold it and was able to pay part of the rent …
And we are happy with that … very grateful …
Before… the relationship was very different… Now it’s more of a partnership…
If we stay together… then that will be fine… hoping that our neighborhoods retain a little of what they were before the Covid ”…
A matter of resilience, no doubt, but the winter will be long for New York, deserted, impoverished, while waiting for the thinning.
Robert, 76, who rounds off his retirement by singing in Union Square and tries to boost the morale of the troops.
SOUND “Everyone is more or less tired… psychologically… spiritually…
You know we need energy… people have lost so much hope…
And sometimes… This hope must be created… for others…
That’s why I’m doing this… I hope it helps someone feel better…
And even if it is gray… the sun will eventually break through another day ”.
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