What The Time Of The Coronavirus Is Teaching Us (3)

My journal during these days of the Covid-19 virus quarantine in New York City. It is a collage of observations, wisdoms, quotes, and images, in an arbitrary order. The stories mirror these unpredictable days. While the entries are chronological, they remain illogical and random, without any known ending.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Chapter 3

Life has turned upside down

New York City is shutting down

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. — Maya Angelou

Reducing my travels to all essential travels, I’m following my dentist’s orders to come to his clinic today for a follow-up procedure. Except for this one commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan, I am not using the subway.

I am in awe by what practically happened overnight in New York City.

The subways are 80 to 90 percent empty

The 7th Avenue stop on the Q train on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, at 9 am. Usually at this time of morning rush hour, this platform is filled with a person-to-person crowd waiting to get on the subway. Today, there are merely three people needing to get into Manhattan.

A nearly empty subway is a phenomenon that goes back to the early eighties (or other earlier times before my time in New York City). We used to ride an almost empty L train between Union Square and Bedford Avenue between 1984 and 1990. It was as eerie back then as it is now…