“Our city is almost empty”, says a French expatriate in New York

A disaster scenario is being written in the United States where 85,000 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed and 1,200 people have died. New York, where many of our compatriots work and live, is not spared and has even become the epicenter of the pandemic according to the WHO.

“Our city is almost empty”, testified on the RTL microphone Sandrine, a French expatriate. “It seems that there is 70% of New Yorkers who respect the rules of separation and confinement, so it shows in the streets. There is room to park, there are very few people walking, those walking wear masks, supermarkets are for the elderly in the morning. Americans are very disciplined so you can tell. The city that never sleeps, sleeps around the clock“, she continues.

If the official confinement decreed by the city of New York date a dozen days ago, Sandrine and her family have been doing so for 17 days. “We decided to confine ourselves before because I have an at-risk husband and because a lot of private companies have decided to close their offices and send people home long before their time. This is what happened at home, the company in which I have my offices has decided to fire everyone. “She, who works in the events industry, a sector hard hit by confinement, is looking for” worse – go to pay his rent “.

These are busy days, even more than usual

Sandrine, French expatriate in New York

–

Confinement for Sandrine is far from being synonymous with rest. “We are overwhelmed”, she confides. Rise at 5 a.m., she looks at the information on the networks, in particular that concerning France on which she “keeps an eye”. “I start working from 7 am and we leave the computer around 8 or 9 pm. In the meantime we have fun. We emptied the fridges, the cupboards to see what we could make to eat , we clean the house … These are busy days, even more than usual. “

Faced with the number of deaths and people contaminated by Covid-19, “psychosis sets in“, assures Sandrine.” In our building, there was psychosis from the start of confinement with extremely strict notes, distributions of freezes in front of the elevators, we cannot approach the doorman (the porter). . “, she says.