EMPTY FEELING FOR START OF 2021
TIMES SQUARE & REVELRY AROUND WORLD MUTED AMID PANDEMIC
Billions of people around the world celebrated the beginning of 2021 on Friday despite varying coronavirus restrictions.
In Times Square, gone were the revelry and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that typify New Year’s Eve, replaced by empty streets and an eerie quiet.
Crowd control gave way to crowd prevention, as police closed the Crossroads of the World to vehicles and onlookers hoping to catch a glimpse of the glittering, crystal ball that was still to descend a flagpole to mark the stroke of midnight. Would-be partygoers were urged to watch the ball drop on television.
Preparing for the worst, the New York Police Department deployed its bomb-sniffing dogs and sand-filled sanitation trucks intended to guard against explosions. But the department’s playbook included an unusual mandate this year: preventing crowds of any size from gathering in Times Square.
“It makes me a little bit sad,” said Cole Zieser, who recently moved to the city. “It’s just not going to be what we wanted, what everyone dreams about in New York.”
The coronavirus has upended public life for months, and New Year’s Eve proved no different for a city that’s counted over 25,000 deaths because of the virus. The blocks surrounding the ball drop were blocked off, leaving a scene that Police Commissioner Dermot Shea described as “surreal.”
“It’s dead,” said Ali Jameel, who owns a store near Times Square. “We are dreaming for it to come back again like before.”
This year’s celebration was to unfold without the usual throngs of cheering, kissing revelers. The event’s special guests, first responders r and essential workers, were to watch the festivities from a private, well-spaced area.
“It’s almost like a ‘Seinfeld’ episode,” Shea said, invoking the 1990s “show about nothing.”
“This is a ball drop about nothing, where you can’t see,” he said, “so you may as well stay home.”
Elsewhere around the world, New Zealanders had it first and best, celebrating as normal because he h country has no active COVID-19 cases.
Sydney, despite the Australia’s recent success controlling the virus, launched its famous harborside fireworks display two hours later to few in-person spectators.
In contrast, South Koreans and Singaporeans had no major celebration to ring in 2021.
Since the Korean War ended, a bell in Seoul has rung in each new year in South Korea — except this year, when COVID-19 forced the ceremony’s cancellation. Singapore, which canceled its event in early November, had no official fireworks.
But in India, individuals and some cities set off fireworks 2 ½ hours after Singapore’s non-celebration, the Times of India reported. Mumbai and New Delhi, the country’s two biggest cities, were under pseudo-lockdowns, with private parties allowed but businesses closed.
In Russia, Moscow’s Red Square, traditionally the country’s New Year’s Eve answer to Times Square, was cordoned off, according to Euronews. Russia has seen a U.S.-like winter surge in COVID cases.