On New Year’s eve, New York’s iconic Times Square wore a deserted a look as it was close to the public owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Images and videos of empty streets and an eerily quiet drop ball ceremony are going viral. People are calling it as ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘spooky’. Social media was abuzz with post that they never expected the place so empty ever. Many shared old photos of New Year’s Eve celebrations in contrast.
New York's Times Square is nearly empty on #NewYearsEve https://t.co/np1Ek7L5ef
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 31, 2020
In the hour before 2021 started, Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Andra Day were announced to the stage at Times Square. Though there was enough merriment and cheers on the stage, the lack of audience hit everyone very hard online.
No wayyyyy. Historical https://t.co/TR3ihjNuiF
— Cindy Lou (@Missus_Boss_) January 1, 2021
New Year’s Eve. 1950. Times Square pic.twitter.com/dw0Dj1UyoG
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) December 31, 2020
New Year’s in Times Square, three weeks after Pearl Harbor 1941: #Getty pic.twitter.com/skC34HpJbY
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) December 31, 2020
Only a handful of invited guests, including healthcare professionals and other frontline workers of the coronavirus pandemic, were allowed to gather on New Year’s Eve ball.
A large contingent of police officers barricaded the area to prevent unauthorized people from gathering, aiming to prevent an event that could accelerate the spread of the virus in a city already struggling to contain it. Even though some gathered outside the barricades to welcome the new year, police quickly dispersed the crowd.
Earlier the first United States case of the more contagious coronavirus variant that was initially discovered in Britain was found in Colorado on December 29.
