A guy in Joker makeup walks around the arc of Washington Square Park. A young man does tricks “Remote magic”, specifies a sign on his table, which reminds onlookers that “The pandemic is still here”. Near the dry fountain, where a horde of skaters is baited, hovers the smell of weed. The iconic park of Greenwich Village, with its misfits, students and artists, seems to come to life. Like certain neighborhoods in New York, a year after the largest American city and its 8.3 million inhabitants were placed under cover.
On March 22, 2020, at 8 p.m., the city that never sleeps confined itself. Suddenly, we heard the silence, until the hum of the giant screens of Times Square, only torn by the heady sirens of ambulances. “This is how we will remember this period: the sirens, without stopping”, insists Jennifer Murphy, paramedic in Brooklyn. Like the multiplication of radio calls, inside …
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