Parmita Uniyal
It is perhaps a beautiful nightmare. There is an eerie calm all around the city of New York. Streets continue to intersect each other the way it did just a few days back but not the people any more. Very few of them are now daring to come close to even the otherwise bustling Times Square as Corona fear grips the mega city.
The streets are getting deserted by the day as the Coronavirus cases surge and casualties rise, almost on hourly basis. There are chances that by the time you scrolled down the page on Worldometer app to check Corona cases in various countries, the total infections would have risen in New York.
In a matter of 2-3 weeks, the total positive cases in the US have topped 300,000 with New York state accounting for one-third of the count. It has earned the unenviable position of the world Coronavirus hotspot.
As on April 4, New York has a total positive cases of 113,704 with 10,228 cases reported in the last 24 hours. The city-state has lost 3,565 of its residents ever since the deadly virus hit the city.
A city that takes pride in championing various human causes and has mega events listed in its calendar throughout the year is suddenly all quite and struggling to come on its feet.
“The city is quite liberal, to the extent that even after lockdown people had been coming out in streets. Police hardly asked anyone why they were out. But now as the fear has grown around Coronavirus, streets look deserted,” said an Indian immigrant.
The glamorous Park Avenue and Grand Central Terminal which have been one of Hollywood’s favourite shooting destinations, made famous by Spiderman movies and Priyanka Chopra’s Quantico, wear a sullen look with very few or no passersby.
Fifth Avenue, the favourite must-visit for shoppers across the world that remains chock-a-block with traffic on normal days is unrecognisable with just a handful of people and hardly any vehicles plying.
Travel junkies who have previously visited New York City’s Central Park, which is the most visited urban parks in the United States with an estimated 37.5–38 million visitors annually, will now find it postcard beautiful but devoid of any life.
