The United States crossed the threshold of one million deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, the White House announced, but like New York on its knees in 2020, the country wants to turn the page on pandemic.
We must remain vigilant in the face of this pandemic and do all we can to save as many lives as possible, as we have done with more tests, vaccinations and treatments than ever before.US President Joe Biden said in a statement as he chaired a virtual global immunization summit on Thursday.
Europe has surpassed two million deaths from the disease, before destructive measuresaccording to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In the United States, officially the most orphaned country in the world (ahead of Brazil, India and Russia), there has been a daily increase in the number of cases in the past month, after several months of decline.
The country, which has removed the obligation to wear a mask, which is now advised to be indoors, is experiencing a rebound in the number of cases due to Omicron sub-variants.
However, its effects seem to be less serious in a population that is fully vaccinated at 66%, and more than 90% for those over 65, while the fourth dose of the vaccine is only open at the moment for those. over 50. years.
After more than two years of pandemics and many different variants, the United States intends to turn the page to COVID-19.
New York, the center of the 2020 pandemic, has resurfaced
New York, an economic and cultural magnet, seems to have regained its legendary effervescence.
New Yorkers, Americans and foreign tourists return to Broadway theaters, photograph themselves under giant digital advertising signs of Times Square, climb the Statue of Liberty, ride carriages to Central Park, walking and biking on the bridge from Brooklyn, hurry to the most beautiful museum in northern Manhattan…
There are so many attractions that have been gradually reopening since 2021 and have made the megalopolis world reputation of 8.4 million souls.
Noon and night, traffic is hell again in the heart of Manhattan, its financial and commercial lungs.
The queue in front of thousands of restaurants, stalls, take-out trucks for white-collar and blue-collar workers is growing. The most trendy terraces in Manhattan and Brooklyn are crowded again.
We have been waiting a long time its return from New York, breathes Alfred Cerullo, who heads the Grand Central Partnership, a pro-business lobby in Manhattan. No doubt, he told AFP, you can feel the strength of the people in the streets..
The contrast is noticeable in the spring 2020 nightmare.
Irreversible effects
Epicenter of the pandemic, the city that does not sleep a few weeks empty, deserted as in a science fiction movie.
The wide streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn are ringing only with sirens prompting the distress of emergency services, where so many hospitals and morgues are forced to hide the corpses of COVID-19 victims. in refrigerated trucks.
Janice Maloof-Tomaso, a nurse who worked near Boston at the time, recalled that many caregivers could not cope. see death. Some were traumatized, and many left.
About 40,000 New Yorkers have died in COVID-19 since the spring of 2020, and both the island of Manhattan and the massive neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens are carrying the scars of the pandemic.
Lack of customers for months, thousands of small businesses have gone out of business, their windows are still covered with wooden planks or posters of real estate agents.
Among the owners of these small stores, Frank Tedesco runs a jewelry store in very upscale Westchester County, north of the Bronx.
He confessed to the AFP that he saved his store in 2020 thanks to the help of the public and his own legacy, but he feels obviously worriedbecause he is [sait] not what happens and how he could endure another shock economy caused by the return of the epidemic.
New Yorkers remain on their guard. The mask is still common on the street and indoors – and mandatory in transportation.
And teleworking has become a habit: according to security company Kastle’s weekly barometer, the New York office occupancy rate still stands at 38%.
The boss of investment bank Goldman Sachs David Solomon admitted on May 2 that the rate of employees returning to the office barely reached 50 to 60% of the workforce, against 80% currently before COVID-19.
Source: Radio-Canada
