New York City has turned into a ghost town with typically-packed subways cars left completely empty and tourist-filled hot spots like Times Square and Central Park eerily deserted.
On Friday, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency and ordered that $50billion in federal resources be allocated to combat the contagious outbreak that has impacted 49 states.
The Big Apple, usually buzzing with traffic and tourists, has transformed into an shockingly silent city as many workers have been ordered to work from home and some business have temporarily shut down.
The state reported that the number of coronavirus cases surged from 325 to 421 on Friday, with 154 of those cases in New York City.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency last week, closing down Broadway and banning gatherings of more than 500 people.
‘Going to this level is not done lightly, but it has reached the point where it is necessary,’ de Blasio said.
The subway system has seen a major plunge in riders. On Wednesday ridership fell by nearly 20 percent on subways and 15 percent on buses compared with a similar day last year.
Typically each day the subway system sees around 5.5million riders each weekday.
On Thursday ridership was down on the Long Island Rail Road by 31 percent and on the Metro-North Railroad, which travels through the northern suburbs of New York, was down 48 percent.
Ridership on the subway was down 18.5 percent, about 1 million riders, compared to March 2019, when the subways handled about 5.39 million.
New Yorkers have also gone into a panic over stocking up on food, toilet paper, and hand sanitizers as they prepare to bunker down as the government calls for ‘social distancing’.
Many businesses have shut down in light of the outbreak and to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
On Thursday Broadway went dark for at least a month following the restrictions on public gatherings, hitting the theater industry hard.
All 41 Broadway theaters have at least 500 seats, in fact most accommodate over 1,000.
California Shelves Plan to Pay Reparations to Slave Descendants, Has Alternative Solution Facebook’s Former Diversity Chief Sentenced to Prison for Multimillion-Dollar Scam ICE declines to reveal names of Jordanians nabbed for Marine base breach; former officials weigh in Family of little girl killed by illegal immigrant shares emotional story, aims to take action in Congress Youngkin vetoes slew of Virginia bills, including contraception access measure Biden called out for past desegregation remarks after praising 1954 landmark Supreme Court ruling House GOP infighting fuels bitter primary election season Pillowcase Murders: Suspected Texas serial killer smothered elderly women in upscale nursing homes ‘Warning signs flashing’: Biden, Trump struggle to lock up base voters ahead of first debate UPenn anti-Israel protesters arrested after attempt to occupy building, police say Speaker Johnson pushes ‘decorum’ after AOC, Marjorie Taylor Greene duel in heated House hearing Christian Teacher Who Was Fired for Objecting to California School’s Transgender Policies Gets the Last Laugh DNA Swab on Sheep Carcass Appears to Confirm Mysterious Sightings of Strange Beast There’s a Big Problem with NBC’s New LGBT Nature Documentary ‘Queer Planet’ Trump predicts ‘jacked up’ Biden at upcoming debates, blasts Bidenomics in battleground speech