New York is the city that suffered the heaviest blow from Covid-19 in the US.
A woman wearing a mask walks through the New York Stock Exchange on March 4.
How New York, the epicenter of America’s Covid-19 epidemic, can regain its original vibrancy is a question that is pondering the city’s political, business and cultural leaders.
The Broadway area, the subway system, world-class restaurants, and countless cultural facilities, features that attract New York’s business, labor, and tourist crowd, are among the places that are influenced
Half of New York’s hotels are shutting down, while there is no reliable prediction of when tourists will return.
Real estate and construction, the `big locomotives` pulling New York’s economy, have almost stopped completely.
As the prospect of lifting social distancing in New York remains dim, all aspects of New York life will have to come to terms with new rules, habits and costs.
`I don’t think New York will recover for at least a few more years,` said Gregg Bishop, the city’s small business commissioner.
New York is not the only city in the world grappling with the question of how to safely reopen businesses and cultural centers after the pandemic.
President Donald Trump is looking to quickly reopen the country after a period of blockade to contain the virus.
But New York is unlikely to follow in the footsteps of the above states in the context that nCoV-infected patients still crowd hospitals and the number of people dying from the epidemic each day still reaches hundreds.
The city’s Independent Budget Office estimates 475,000 people will lose their jobs next year.
New York City has suffered many crises, such as the 9/11 terrorist attack, the 2008 banking crisis or the financial crisis of the 1970s. After each time, the economy recovered, stronger but
`The obituary for New York City has been written more than once and it has always been proven wrong,` commented James Whelan, head of the Real Estate Board of New York.
However, no crisis has caused the city to close for as long as it is now, and no crisis has caused people’s lives to stop simultaneously like now.
Large and medium-sized companies are starting to plan for employees to return to the office gradually.
`As we need to maintain social distancing, we will either need more space or use it less,` said Neil Blumenthal, chief executive of Warby Parker, a glasses company based in SoHo, New York.
City officials and business leaders fear that after the lockdown, when companies realize how well they can work remotely, many will consider downsizing their offices or leaving.
Others are concerned about the possibility that workers from all over the United States and the world will be very cautious about returning to New York to work, at least for the next few years.
`No one wants the economy to work again more than me,` New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said on April 18.
Closing 25,000 restaurants and bars is a problem, but attracting customers back is an even bigger problem.
`When will companies start holding events at restaurants and bars again?` said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a nonprofit restaurant industry association
This is the question that haunts Broadway and the entire New York entertainment industry.
Tourism brings nearly 300,000 direct jobs to New York, according to data from the Center for an Urban Future, dwarfing the number of jobs in finance and nearly double the number of jobs in technology.
Times Square in New York on March 19.
However, tourists will not go to a closed city, while tourist attractions such as parades, performing arts, exhibitions, sports and festivals will probably be the last to come.
The City Opera House is considering whether they can restart performances in September.
And the experience when Broadway reopens will be very different, Charlotte St.
Another factor affecting New York’s recovery is its bus and subway systems.
Drivers and station staff were recently required to wear masks on buses and subways.
For the construction industry, union officials and contractors are discussing how to ensure safety and health standards as nearly 35,000 construction sites resume operations.
State officials believe that construction may be one of the industries that will be able to resume operations soon, along with manufacturing, because remote working for these industries is not feasible and the implementation of safety standards in
But lifting restrictions does not mean all activities will return to the same.
In the real estate industry, brokers have not yet found a way to deal with the new challenges posed to their work, for example potential buyers are now no longer allowed to visit apartments, making profits worse.
More urgently, millions of renters are struggling to find ways to pay monthly rent, causing worries about a chain crisis in the housing market if rent is not paid.
When rent is not received, landlords will not be able to repay bank loans on time, increasing the risk of delinquency and property foreclosure.
`Rent is part of the lifeblood of the economy,` said Andrew Rein from the nonprofit Citizens Budget Committee.
At eyewear company Warby Parker, the reopening process will include at least three phases, according to chief executive officer Blumenthal.
The first phase has begun at the company’s glass cutting factory located on the outskirts of the city.
The next phase involves reopening stores.
In the final phase, the last people to return to work will be nearly 300 office workers at the company’s headquarters in SoHo.
Even then, life will be very different, Blumenthal said.