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As new coronavirus cases continue a downward trend in New York City — and after almost two months on lockdown — quarantine-fatigued residents are looking ahead to when the Big Apple can finally start to reopen.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has set seven benchmarks each region must meet before they are permitted to start his four-phase reopening plan — and the city has so far fluctuated between meeting three or four of those stipulations.
So when will things go back to “normal” — and what will “normal” even look like for the city that has become the national epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic?
The Post spoke to epidemiologists, public health experts, industry insiders and public officials to find out.
Here’s what we learned:
- Restaurants: Foodies will have to wait until at least July before dining resumes, and then they can expect masked servers, salad-bar monitors, fast-paced music and limited seating.
- Schools: It remains unclear whether New York City schools will reopen in the fall, but when kids do return, they could see temperature checks, staggered start times and other big changes.
- Beaches, pools and playgrounds: The city, state and federal governments all have different plans for reopening — or not reopening — their portions of the shoreline. But one thing is for “shore” — there will be less fun in the sun at New York’s open spaces in the future.
- Major-league sports: The good news is that it may not be too much longer before live sports returns, with Cuomo already encouraging leagues back. The bad news is that you won’t be in the stands.
- Commuting: Even as the MTA tries to make subways and buses safer, many former straphangers are expected to ditch mass transit — leading to worse traffic on roads.
- Broadway and entertainment: You may not be giving your regards to Broadway anytime soon, but other forms of entertainment are already making plans to return — albeit with lots of social distancing and hand sanitizer.
- Tourism and shopping: Curb-side retail is likely to open during the first week of June and malls will open two weeks later. Tourism will be slow to return but New Yorkers looking for a staycation can expect record low hotel prices come July.
