Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


NY's Times Square Revelry on New Year's Eve Replaced by ... Nothing

Associated Press

   NEW YORK - Gone were the revelry and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that
   typify Times Square on New Year's Eve, replaced by empty streets and an
   eerie quiet as the final hours of 2020 ticked away.

   This was New Year's Eve in the age of COVID-19.

   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 set to descend down a pole 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
   New York 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 more than 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.

.