Midtown Manhattan Coronavirus Views

Midtown Manhattan coronavirus views present a random selection from a once rambunctious area caught in a kind of shock, on a warm spring afternoon. This is May 2020 when COVID sapped New York City.

By David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

No one saw this coming. Not this.

Roaring, smelly, wealthy, cocky, elegant Midtown Manhattan stripped of its essence. Tourists gone. The few pedestrians are mostly hidden behind masks. Flocks of bikes dominating no longer congested streets.

My wife said she missed the city streets, the buzz defining our town. So, on a Saturday in May, we abandoned our usual walk in a park or along the East River.

Aware that many of our friends are staying close to home if they go outside at all, I took some photos to share, to bring them some of what was out there.

We saw a very familiar Midtown Manhattan but in view of the coronavirus crisis, one also very different.

A favorite French restaurant, La Bonne Soup, on 55th Street, proudly announced its first closing in 47 years. But they promised a return… on March 30th, two months earlier.

Coronavirus View: Midtown Manhattan, Room for Bicycles

The shocking absence of cars and trucks in Midtown Manhattan hit by the coronavirus is matched by an increase in bicycles.

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Freed from hazards as never before, bike riders cruise in flocks. But in a nod to normalcy, they still ignore traffic laws, gliding through red lights without a pause.

• Why Does Midtown Manhattan Smell Like That?
• Bicycle Riders At Risk
• The Tale of Two Roosevelt Islands, RIOC Points of View
• Why Is NYC’s Economy Still Struggling? Take a Close Look at Construction, Entertainment and Retail
• Getting Roosevelt Island Wrong. It’s Now An Epidemic

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