NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2020) One week after entering phase one of the state's post-coronavirus (COVID-19) reopening on June 8, the streets of New York City are rather empty, filled mainly with essential workers and occasional passerby trying to social distance from each other.
"NYSE [New York Stock Exchange]: no waiver = no work," reads a sign in the hands of a lonely demonstrator, lonely protesting on Monday in front of the stock exchange building on Wall Street.
The NYSE trading floor, which partially reopened even before the first phase, at the end of May, asks everyone entering it to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks of potential exposure to COVID-19.
A few employees in formal suits, who decided to take the risk, are waiting to enter at a distance more than the required six feet from each other.
Across the street, a postal worker wearing a protective mask and gloves can be seen unloading a truck with delivery packages for residents in the area, nowhere to be seen outside their apartments.
Delivery personnel, policemen, medical staff, construction workers and janitors are still almost the only people "crowding" New York City, which had just exited an 11-week lockdown.
In early April, when New York State hit the peak of COVID-19, a single-day death toll had exceeded 800 people. The state has now reached the lowest number of deaths on a 3-day average, with 25 lives lost to the invisible enemy on June 14, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Even though it seems like New York has battled the invisible enemy and the city attempts to return to normal life, its residents are ordered to comply with social distancing measures.
City businesses, allowed to operate under the current phase, also help people to keep a safe distance from each other. Shops with curbside pick up, cafes and manufacturing companies have marked the floor to map out the distance customers and employees have to stay apart.
The popular Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan had put a sign before the entrance asking pedestrians to avoid through traffic in an attempt to reduce crowding.
Visitors of the market are required to wear a face-covering, limit a shopping party to two individuals, leave dogs and bikes at home, as well as avoid touching produce and lingering, according to another sign at the entrance.
The nearby 14th Street-Union Square subway station, the fourth busiest in the city, is far from being crowded. Sporadic groups of construction workers, food delivery drivers, policemen and a musician band are accompanying a couple of riders at the station.
Everybody inside the subway is mandated to wear a mask and adhere to safe social distance, also indicated with floor marks. The only individuals who seem to not comply with the rules are those who sleep on the subway each night.
Regardless of the fact that the New York City transportation system has been shut down at night on a daily basis, to disinfect trains and connect homeless New Yorkers to services, about a dozen of them can be spotted sheltering at the station.
Grand Central Terminal, located in Midtown Manhattan, is as well mainly quieted by the coronavirus, despite the reopening. Security guards, rail terminal workers, a single group of passengers with suitcases are the only visitors of the terminal that has seen an average of 750,000 commuters per day during the so-called normal times.
Located a walking distance from the terminal, the United Nations headquarters building, has been partially closed since mid-March, mandating all non-essential staff to telecommute.
Almost three months after, the UN complex looks abandoned by the Secretariat workers, delegates and visitors who used to flood the building up to 11,000 people per day.
The press stakeout area, previously swarmed by dozens of reporters from all over the world waiting to ask questions on behind-the-scenes diplomacy, is empty. The Calendar schedule of events planned at the Security Council Chamber is blank.
The headquarters had placed the 6-feet floor marks and signs requiring face masks and limiting space occupancy to two people in elevators. However, it is not clear when the employees will have a chance to read these signs.
With telecommuting being extended by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres until July 31, the UN building has not even entered the first phase of the existing four to safely reopen.
