Vaccinated? Times Square to be open on NYE
NEW YORK — As the clock runs out on 2021, New York City will ring in the new year with festivities meant to signal its post-pandemic rebirth: Once again, an untold number of hardy souls will descend on Times Square, braving the cold, the crowds and the police cordons to watch the ball drop at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
After a scaled-down celebration last year, the famously frigid event will return at “full strength,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said this month. It will be de Blasio’s final act running New York City, after eight years in office, and serve as a prelude to his possible bid for governor in 2022.
“We want to welcome all those hundreds of thousands of folks, but everyone needs to be vaccinated,” de Blasio said. “Join the crowd, join the joy, join a historic moment as New York City provides further evidence to the world that we are 100% back.”
The New Year’s celebration will come four months after lightning cut short a star-studded “homecoming concert” that was also designed to signify the city’s comeback. Proof of vaccination was also required to attend that event, which drew thousands to Central Park.
The New Year’s festivities will present a logistical, and perhaps philosophical, puzzle for the city’s police officers, who fought the mayor’s vaccination mandate for public servants. Police will have to not only contend with crowd control but also confirm that people are vaccinated.
Anyone who is unable to be inoculated because of a disability will have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of the event. Masks will be required for anyone who is not vaccinated, said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance.