On March 12, it was three years since Bill de Blasio, the then mayor of New York, declared a state of emergency due to Covid 19.
At that time, little was known about the coronavirus, although what was certain was that it was ending the lives of residents not only of New York but of the entire world.
To date, there were 95 confirmed cases in the city, which would later become the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States.
The mayor joined with the state to try to prevent the spread of the virus through actions that would include a general quarantine.
Despite the uncertainty and concern, for some, work has skyrocketed, others are grateful to be alive:
Edgar Pérez, food delivery man
“For us there was more deliverywe were busywe just went down for a while in the afternoon, a while in the morning, two, three times a week, three days”.
“Fear, sadness, worry,” says Gómez. “The fact that they practically closed the city was shocking, and seeing the city so empty, desolate was impressive,” he continues.
Nancy Murillo said: “Blessed, because when you look back and there were so many people and so close that they are no longer there because of COVID, you feel blessed and grateful to be here today.”
While Elsa Paredes said: “All the people were very desperate, there was a void, well on occasion, well me in my family, since we are very dedicated to the things of God, that strengthened me.”
And there are those who remember being among the first to be infected:
“We got sick on March 14, the one who started first was me because I used all the trains, my husband had been working remotely from home for two weeks, and we were there for about a month, practically locked up, completely isolated”, indicates Sandra Paneto.
“But thank God we are alive, we had the blessing of telling it, many people did not make it and many people left us,” he adds.
Today, three years later, Mayor Adams says that the recovery process in terms of work and tourism has been remarkable:
“And after so many lives lost, life changes that are still maintained, today the city and its residents are still in a recovery process, yes, without forgetting everything that COVID brought with it in 2020,” Adams said.
