General Coronavirus coverage in New York City for The New York Times
From New York Was Not Designed for Emptiness by Corina Knoll on March 30 2020:
Here alone, the coronavirus has already stolen hundreds of lives, less than a month after New York confirmed its first positive case. The coming weeks look even more grim. Most know someone stricken with the virus, and the number of cases only grows.
So too does an uneasiness within a city suddenly forced to be everything it is not.
…
It is an odd thing to keep one’s distance in a place where strangers’ lives are meant to intertwine in fantastic and untidy ways. Where public spaces like Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station draw in people from a thousand different origins. Where you live because you want, in many ways, to brush up against this city’s peculiar rhythms.
…
And there is still a heartbeat within the city, buoyed by those who must continue showing up to work, their jobs deemed vital. They sit inside hushed subway trains and buses and make their way across forlorn stations. They trudge along sidewalks that feel joyless and foreboding at night.
Perhaps this is a respite from the usual cacophony. The troves of ambling sightseers had been maddening. The subways were always jammed, the morning rush crushed our souls. The mess of cars, the packed bars, the incessant pressure to engage were constant thorns.
And yet.
Perhaps the return of such ordinary troubles will be a relief in this city that was never designed for solitude.
