Jorge Fuentelsaz
New York, Mar 12 (EFE) .- New York closed the curtain on March 13 of last year to protect itself from covid-19 and became a ghost city that now, hoping for the first rays of the vaccine, he dreams of regaining his shine and triumphing on stage again.
“ We continue to move forward, trying to make up for lost time, ” Ángel Gil Orrios, the artistic director of the Hispanic theater Thalía, assures EFE that on April 2, its 100-seat room will reopen to 33 percent after the authorities have allowed the return of live performances as part of a reopening.
The cinemas began to receive public a week ago, the large stadiums with seats for more than 10,000 people already host sporting events and concerts and, since February, the interior of the restaurants -with limitations- again received customers eager to enjoy his free time.
In addition, the premiere of the first days of spring has brought many New Yorkers to the streets and in areas such as Bryant Park, Times Square, Washington Square or Fifth Avenue, the desire for life to recover its rhythm is overflowing.
THE REOPENING OF ‘OFF BROADWAY’
A year after the closure, Gil explains that they have managed to survive, like most of the ‘Off Broadway’ spaces in the city, due to public aid and private and corporate donations, thanks to the fact that they are a non-profit association profit.
He confesses that, like many other theaters, the sudden announcement of the reopening caught them with a different foot, since the theatrical season in New York starts in September and ends on June 30.
However, they will not give up dusting the stage and on April 2 they will organize a ceremony in honor of the actor and president of the theater’s board of directors, Francisco Fuertes, who died on April 1, 2020 as a result of the coronavirus.
They have also programmed a monologue starring Lilian Colón, the first Latin woman to be part of the famous dance group Las Rockettes, Gil says, before clarifying that, for now, the shows will be offered live and in telematic format, for the people who still do not feel comfortable going to closed places.
But the big Broadway theaters, where blockbusters and musicals come to life, will still remain in the dark, at least until September.
In the battered New York, which last spring became the most affected city in the country, the illusion of reviving many times cannot overcome the damage that the pandemic and the economic crisis associated with the closures and closures have already caused.
The president of the MET, the largest museum in the country, Daniel Weiss, confirmed last Tuesday that the art gallery is considering selling some of its works to support the budget and help “its staff during this unprecedented crisis.”
However, in statements tinged with adversity, Weiss wanted to open the door to hope with these words: ‘We have learned a lot. We have changed a lot. I think we will come out of this as a stronger and healthier institution in every way. ‘
THE DANGER OF A PRECIPITATED OPENING
The director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, Jeff Schlegelmilch, assures Efe that a year after the pandemic was declared, ‘the light is definitely seen at the end of the tunnel with vaccines’, but warns that there are still “many uncertainties” such as the effectiveness against new variants of the coronavirus.
Schlegelmilch believes that the relaxation of the measures in the city “from a public health perspective, is being done too soon.”
He acknowledges that people are ‘more tired’ of confinement, that they want to see loved ones again, go back to work, go to school, go out to restaurants or enjoy art, and that this puts pressure on the authorities.
“But there are still too many infections, there is still a lot of unknown territory and not enough people are vaccinated,” says Schlegelmilch before concluding that “the faster it reopens, the more it will be tempted to fate.”
The expert, who believes that just next year life will go back to the way it was before, warns: “When we talk about returning to normality, we are not really talking about returning to normal.”
‘We don’t want things to be the way they were before, we want things to be better than they were before; We need to focus on that, because what happened before is what has brought us here, ‘he stresses.
In New York City, the rate of positivity in covid-19 tests is 6.35% on average in the last seven days, a very high figure compared to other places in the country, according to the expert.
So while he acknowledges that people are more aware of dangers and measures to stay safe, he does not hide his fear that the dream of New York regaining its shine will turn into a new nightmare. EFE
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