After long pandemic year, a changed New York shows renewal
Pamela Puchalski still remembers how frightening it felt when the coronavirus upended life in her New York City neighborhood last March.
With terrifying swiftness came the first infections, the first restrictions and the first deaths. There were no answers to be found, only dire warnings: Stay away from work, from school, from restaurants and bars, from shops and theaters — and especially from each other.
A year later, the nation’s largest metropolis — with a lifeblood based on round-the-clock hustle and bustle, push and pull — is adapting and showing new life. The renewal is evident in the stream of customers waiting across the Plexiglas-covered counter at Artuso pastry shop in the Bronx; in laughter wafting from outdoor dining sheds built on the streets in front of restaurants; in the parks filled with picnics, birthday gatherings and dance parties, despite the winter chill.