Former virus hotspot New York reopens as cases spike elsewhere
by Thomas Urbain | Maggy Donaldson
New York businesses opened their doors to returning waves of workers Monday as the city that was once the epicenter of the global pandemic marked an important milestone in its return to normalcy, even as other US states were seeing an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases.
Nationwide, cases have been on the rise for the past two weeks following a long plateau in the spring, with California hitting levels of new infections not seen since March and Florida passing the 100,000 cases benchmark on Monday.
President Donald Trump acknowledged that the US death toll — which has surpassed 120,000 — could reach 150,000 people. “It could go beyond that,” he said.
But for many in hard-hit New York, where more than 20,000 people succumbed to the disease, the return to normal meant resuming their small everyday rituals.
For some, that meant getting a haircut.
“I’ve been cutting it myself and doing a very bad job, so I was very excited to see (the barber),” said Jeremiah Zinn, a man in his 50s who was the first client to walk through the door at Benny’s Barbershop in Brooklyn.
Yury Ykubov, the owner, told AFP he had opened the shop six months prior, and negotiated with the landlord to make rent during the lockdown.
Ykubov himself contracted COVID-19 but, like the city itself, has recovered and has antibodies for protection.
But all the barbers in his shop took online courses on how to be safe, which included using special gowns, wearing masks, and no blow-drying.
“I’m slightly nervous, like it’s the first day I come to work, the first day somebody hired me,” he laughed.
In Manhattan, Sam Karalis, owner of The Windsor Florist, said his business was one of the lucky ones to have survived with the help of the government and his landlord.
He was relieved to be able to open his doors to paying customers.
“If you can’t look at the stuff, you can’t really buy it,” he said. (AFP)
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