New Year will return to Times Square, New York, but only for vaccinated

The end of 2021 is approaching, and New York will welcome the arrival of the new year with festivities intended to mark its post-pandemic renaissance. Once again, countless brave partygoers will gather in Times Square, braving the cold, crowds and police barriers, to follow the ball’s descent at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

After last year’s downplayed party, the celebrated frosty event will return “in full force,” Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday (16). It will be De Blasio’s final act at the helm of New York City after eight years as mayor, and will serve as a prelude to his possible candidacy for governor in 2022.

“We want to welcome all the hundreds of thousands of people, but everyone needs to be vaccinated,” said De Blasio. “Come to thicken the crowd, join in the joy and a historic moment, with New York giving the world yet another proof that we are back 100% with everything.”

The New Year’s celebration will come four months after lightning interrupted a celebrity-filled “return concert” that was also meant to signal New York’s return to normalcy. Proofs of vaccinations were also required to attend this event, which drew thousands of people to Central Park.

The New Year’s festivities will create a logistical and possibly also a philosophical challenge for the city’s police officers, who fought the mayor’s decree that forced public officials to be vaccinated. Police officers will not only have to control the crowd, but also confirm that those present have been vaccinated.

In Times Square, news that the drop of the ball will be open to the public again was greeted with enthusiasm, at least among tourists. For Johnnica Watson, 47, of Alabama, watching New Year’s Eve on TV wouldn’t be enough. When she heard the news Tuesday, she decided to schedule another visit to New York. “I’m thrilled for New Yorkers, but even more so for us who don’t live in the city,” she said.

Anyone who cannot be vaccinated for any medical reason will have to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test done within 72 hours prior to the event. Children under the age of 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccination, must be accompanied by a vaccinated adult. Mask use will be mandatory for those who are not vaccinated, said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance.

Asked at a news conference why the vaccination test is mandatory to watch the ball go down, as the certificate is not required for many other outdoor activities in New York, De Blasio responded that a crowded event, which lasts for hours and attracts people from all over the country and the world, it requires greater precautions.

“When you’re outdoors for hours on end in a compact crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, it’s a different reality,” said the mayor. “We’re talking about a lot of people in very close contact for a long period of time. It makes sense to protect everyone.”

The announcement comes as De Blasio prepares for the inauguration of his successor, Eric Adams, and the New Year’s Eve party will coincide with his last day at City Hall. This means that any negative results from the event will fall to Adams, who will take office on January 1, 2022. An Adams spokesperson did not respond to a request for statements.

Several public health experts have warned that, given the constantly changing nature of the coronavirus, it is difficult to predict what the number of Covid cases in the city will be like by year’s end. But it’s worth remembering that many of the people who go to Times Square don’t live in New York.

As of Tuesday (16), 74.6% of all New Yorkers had received at least one dose of vaccine, and 68.2% were fully vaccinated. The number of Covid cases in the city has been rising recently and is still very high, but hospitalization rates remain low.

Dr Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, called De Blasio’s New York New Year’s Eve plans “very reasonable.” “Vaccination converts outdoor events, which are already low risk, into very low risk,” said Jha.

As proof of this, he pointed to the Lollapalooza music festival held in Chicago.

“It was a meeting that brought together a huge crowd. Everyone present had to be vaccinated or tested negative,” said Jha. “We have evidence that there has been little spread of Covid.”

But Jha advised De Blasio to create an “escape clause” in the event that Covid’s cases escalate long before New Year’s Eve, calling for the New Year’s Eve return to be postponed until next year.

Some experts noted that risk may not be contained within Times Square’s boundaries. You have to consider what happens before and after the ball goes down, with people going in and out of bars and restaurants in the area to eat, warm up and go to the bathroom.

But, unlike what happens in many other cities, in New York people who eat or drink indoors are required to present proof of vaccination.

The US has recently eased some of the tighter restrictions on entry for foreign travelers. Thus, Times Square’s New Year’s Eve is likely to attract people from all over the world, bringing together tourists from areas with lower and higher rates of the virus.

According to Harris, from the Times Square Alliance, the turn of the year usually translates into an increase in commercial movement. He hopes the holiday season will provide a much-needed boost to a district that has seen many restaurants and hotels close during the pandemic.

“People are fed up with dreaming, they’re dying to act in real life, and they want to do it in Times Square,” he said.

Other big cities around the world canceled their New Year festivities. The Mayor of London announced in October that the New Year’s Eve fireworks display in the city will be canceled and replaced by a celebration of a different kind. This week, Amsterdam canceled its party in response to the rise in coronavirus cases.

Munich also canceled its celebrated Christmas fair. “The dramatic situation in our hospitals and the exponential increase in the number of cases leave me no choice,” Mayor Dieter Reiter told reporters on Tuesday.

Jha, of Brown University, said that, for him, it makes sense for New York to go ahead with its plans.

“We need to get back to doing things that are really important,” he argued. “New Year’s Eve at Times Square is an iconic American party. I think we’re at the point in the pandemic where we can have it safe.”