-State of Emergency in the city
-State has banned gatherings >500 people
-Broadway shows suspended until April
-MLS and NHL suspended
I had tickets for a show tomorrowâŚbut relieved that they are taking these precautions! Stay safe everyone!
It will be interesting to see, given the rapid shutdowns of many institutions, whether this will extend into the construction industry. Iâd hate to see construction halt on the towers around here.
Worrying about construction is the least of our concerns right now.
Weâve got to attack this virus and minimize the carnage. People are more important than buildings.
Personally I think they should stop everything right now.
Coronavirus Updates: De Blasio Declares State Of Emergency In NYC
Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared a state of emergency, acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic could affect New Yorkers for as long as six months and require a long recovery period.
The declaration gives the mayor an extensive list of powers, including the ability to impose a curfew, stop public transportation, cancel elective procedures at hospitals, create or designate medical shelters, limit maximum building occupancy, and ration supplies.
âWe have to fully understand that this is the shape of things to come,â he said in his most sobering press conference to date on the spread of coronavirus. âIt feels like the world turned upside down in just the course of a few hours.â
There are now 95 confirmed cases in the city, an alarming spike of 42 since yesterday.
The mayor said he expected the city could have 1,000 cases by next week. He said 20 percent could require hospitalization.
âWeâre getting into a situation where the only analogy is war,â he said.
In the first breakdown by borough, the mayor said that as of 12 p.m., there were 25 cases in Manhattan, 24 in Brooklyn, 17 in Queens, 10 in Bronx and 5 in Staten Island. Due to a lag in updated information, the numbers do not reflect the latest total.
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https://gothamist.com/news/coronavirus-nyc-covid19-restrictions
Stop social interaction until we get this testing debacle under control. Nobody has any clue how bad infections are. We literally are preparing for the worst because we just donât know. Americaâs leadership dramatically screwed this up when you compare what other countries did to prepare.
Traffic is very, very light today.
I can tell you that its never like this, even on Saturday, past 12 pm. If you zoom in closer, even in Manhattan, light traffic overall.
I drove from Briarwood, Queens to Union Square (via Williamsburg Bridge) in 20 minutes. Couldnât believe it.
Yeah very true. Normally NYC traffic is like traveling to the nearest star. Just takes lifetimes.
If we donât shut things down this will all be drawn out for 6 months to a year.
Itâs not gonna spread much on the job sites thoughâ not much close touching, more spread out labor.
I suppose the commuting presents risks, but now that the trains are much less crowded itâll probably cool down a bit.
I hope they wait and see if the already intense interventions put forward for the city this weekend will work⌠there is already much talk of the hardships facing hospitality & food industry and I think the pols need to balance public health with the risk of a full-blown depression. On the extreme end, more people would die from a massive rise in unemployment than this virus would kill.
Itâs literally gonna spread everywhere. Listen to the experts. Itâs highly contagious!
The economy already is getting hit (which will effect construction) and it probably get worse in the next 6 months even if the virus is stopped right now. That why it important to halt everything even if it hurts the economy short term. The more people who get sick the worse it be and of course not mentioning the lives we will lose if we donât do anything.
â The odds of slipping into a recession are increasingly likely as the global coronavirus outbreak puts acute stress on the U.S. economy. That could be bad news for American workers, who may lose jobs by the millions in a downturn.â
â Economic cracks are beginning to emerge. Small-business owners are starting to report supply chain problems and lost sales. The travel industry is reeling. Big oil and gas companies are slashing spending and cutting dividends amid a plunge in crude prices. Consumer spending has fallen as Americans pull back from their daily routines.
The coronavirus fallout has been so dramatic that many economists think the U.S. is headed for a recession. Some economists believe the recession has already begun.â
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/03/16/millions-of-americans-could-lose-their-jobs-in-a-coronavirus-recession.html
Fair enough. I donât know what the best choice isâ I just fear unnecessary closures will put too much burden on the poorest and most vulnerable populations: for example, many who work in construction are undocumented and would probably have trouble receiving whatever relief is offered (if it ever comes to fruition). They might not have enough to live for even a week if al the jobs are gone. This is already happening to people in hospitality.
So while I sympathize for the people who stand to get seriously ill from this virus, I think we canât forget the people who will/are getting pummeled by the response to the virus.
Honestly, I think a forecast of a recession is mild. I fear this will be the biggest global collapse since 1929. Luckily, that didnât stop RE development in New York City â but it caused a whole lot of deaths, both of poverty and of despair. Entirely halting the virus, at the expense of literally every sector, every individual, the entire fabric of our financial system would be a very pyrrhic victory.
A recession seems guaranteed at this point, how severe it will be depends on how long the crisis lasts. If it goes on for more than two months as some are suggesting, itâs going to be ugly. Nothing we canât get past, however, and we still have a few guaranteed projects to look forward to like Chaseâs HQ
Letâs be honest, everybody was already predicting a recession anyways. The virus just sped up the process.
May not wind up in NYC but I think it would make sense docked across from the Javits Center.