From the 222 Broadway high-rise building, Brian Levy watched New York: dark windows, empty streets, and shops closed between Covid-19.

"The city now resembles an illusion domain. New York's energy comes from all its residents. But now, this place is empty. You will feel like you're in a boring and quiet town." Levy, an electrical engineer who lives on Long Island, east of Manhattan, said.

On the morning of March 25, before dawn, Levy drove from home to work in the busy financial street of Manhattan, New York City. Instead of being stuck in traffic jams for more than half of the travel time, Levy's road to work today is extraordinarily clear.

From the office on the 222 Broadway high-rise building, Levy witnessed a bustling, bustling Manhattan now becoming a lonely neighborhood when business activities were almost halted. Looking to the south, the gloomy atmosphere also covered the New York Stock Exchange when the market opened on the morning of March 25. At the Oculus station at the World Trade Center, the image of passengers crowded during rush hour no longer appears.

Most of New York is now steeped in incredible tranquility, in stark contrast to the chaotic scene in city hospitals where patient rooms and medical equipment are running out. The sirens of an ambulance tear apart the quiet space of the neighborhood. While the subway trains are almost empty, health workers race to save patients day and night in hospitals full of nCoV-infected people.

New York City nearly stopped all activities to focus on anti-Covid-19. The increasing scope and speed of life in this city, along with the increasing number of people infected and dying from nCoV, reminds many of New Yorkers of past obsessions, such as the September 11 terrorist attacks. 2001 and Super typhoon Sandy in 2012.

Thousands of restaurants and small businesses were closed, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs. At the request of Governor Andrew Cuomo, office workers must work from home and no longer flock to Midtown for lunch.

New York City has recorded more than 26,000 cases and at least 460 deaths from Covid-19, officials said on March 26.

The dynamics for the city tourism industry have stopped. The Broadway billboards kept announcing canceled performances. The walkway outside Macy's department store, in Herald Square, which is often filled with passers-by, is now so quiet that the central heating system can be heard nearby.

Some people walked the streets to see an unusual New York, while the police leave the car to take some selfies in the middle of an empty intersection.

"Usually this is only seen at 6am on Sunday, but the city is always like this now," said Brian O’Flaherty, manager of an office building that still goes to work every day from Long Island.

The display of shops in the Diamond District neighborhood in Midtown is now empty, no longer diamond jewelry is on sale, instead of unadorned necklace shelves. This lonely landscape also covers the Chinese neighborhood on the evening of March 24: nearly all noodle shops, tea shops, restaurants and many other businesses closed simultaneously.

At the Chinese chain of shops, the shelves are empty, rather than filled with models of sports cars, villas and many other code products as usual.

The corridors at Penn Station are often crowded with people, the sound of dragging luggage, the sound of sneakers walking in and out of the noisy talk. But now, these familiar sounds are replaced by soft jazz music emanating from the building's public sound system.

"This is the most deserted and clean setting I've ever seen in this place," said Netta Arnold, from Orange, New Jersey and one of the few people waiting for the train.

Normally, New Yorkers always have special awareness about private space. They would be completely sympathetic when strangers squeezed in the crowded subway compartment, but were ready to go crazy if someone sat too close to them on an empty train.

But the appearance of nCoV has deepened this perception. Some sidewalks are not wide enough for pedestrians to keep a distance of nearly 2 m as recommended by officials, so they choose to turn or step completely away with a nod signaling to give way. people opposite, or down the road. At stores and on the subway, people without masks carefully pull on the collar of their coats and scarves to cover their noses.

However, the crowd still gathered in many other places. As New Yorkers gradually disappeared from the Manhattan office district, in other counties like Queens and Brooklyn, where more than half of the city's population lived, activities still took place. On sunny afternoons, Prospect Park in Brooklyn is full of people cycling, jogging, or playing hockey.

The order to close the city, mandatory but difficult to enforce, has sparked a lot of controversy about properly separating the community. But it also draws people together, at the minimum recommended distance.

Jim Walton, who comes from Indiana and is a veteran actor on Broadway, said nCoV has made New Yorkers as friendly as if they were living in a small town. "I waved and smiled at everyone, as if we all lived here together," Walton said.

Food vendors still make frequent deliveries at Satoru Yasumats's two Japanese restaurants in Manhattan's Flatiron District neighborhood, which now only accepts deliveries and purchases. Delivery people are always on time because the streets are empty.

"When I went to the restaurant in the morning, I felt like I was walking in the middle of the night," Yasumatsu said.

When he returned home at night, he was surprised to find so few lighted apartments. Some New Yorkers have left the city to quiet countryside areas to avoid the epidemic, despite President Donald Trump recently demanding that anyone leaving the city be isolated for 14 days.

Yasumatsu had witnessed the city become deserted before. He was in New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attack 19 years ago. "But things are completely different this time," he said.