New Yorkers mindful of coronavirus seem to be obeying social-distancing rules
Big Apple residents appear to be taking social distancing seriously amid the coronavirus pandemic plaguing the city.
State and city officials have put out repeated calls to New Yorkers to stay home, practice safe social distancing, and stay at least 6 feet apart when out in public in order to stem the spread of the potentially deadly virus — and those calls apparently got through to city-goers.
Numerous parks and outdoor areas surveyed by The Post Tuesday across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens were sparsely populated and void of crowds.
At Central Park, some people were spotted out and about walking dogs and jogging, while some folks were seen sitting solo on benches.
On the Great Lawn, there were few people hanging out and those who were, were in groups of no more than three.
A handful of skaters were seen at Tompkins Square Park and at Bryant Park, even the homeless who were posted up there were seen keeping their distance from each other.
No crowds were spotted at Brooklyn Bridge Park, where the popular basketball courts were closed and many of the benches and tables were roped off.
“This section is closed: In response to COVID-19, this section is closed until further notice,” read a sign on the basketball courts.
People were also seen consciously keeping their distance at Prospect Park.
“People are scared. They don’t want to get sick … They don’t want to get other people sick,” said Julio Garcia, 32, as he kicked a soccer ball with his son near the Brooklyn park’s baseball fields.
“Everyone needs fresh air,” Garcia said. “You got to be smart about it.”
Similar scenes of sparsely populated green spaces were seen Queens’ Forest Park, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and Juniper Valley Park.
Folks at those parks were seen jogging, rollerblading or biking and visibly keeping their distance from each other — but no one was seen lingering.
At the waterfront Gantry State Park in Long Island City, an oblivious ice cream truck driver complained that he wasn’t making any money.
“I make $9 all day!” the driver for “Pete’s Ice Cream” truck griped during the afternoon. “Usually [I make] $200, $300 by this time. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the virus.”
State Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens) told The Post that it made sense that the parks in the borough were not very populated.
“They are concerned about the rising numbers of positive [coronavirus] tests and fatalities,” Addabbo said of his constituents. “Even as I’m driving around, I’ve never seen the Belt Parkway look so clear of traffic.”
The lawmaker added, “People are starting to get the idea. I think it is setting in. We all have to be staying home and the quicker we do that will help us get there sooner.”
Meanwhile, NYPD Chief of Patrol Fausto Pichardo posted a video of a virtually empty park in The Bronx Tuesday.
“Just stopped by Stars & Stripes Park in the #Bronx where I found it to be empty— I want to THANK everyone for practicing social distancing and doing your part by staying 6 feet apart,” Pichardo tweeted.
Joe Puleo, the president of Local 983 of District Council 37, which represents city park enforcement patrol officers, said there has been no organized sports and minimized use at city parks.
“Mostly dog walkers and families. Signs are now posted. Most people are listening. There is hope as long as people obey the rules and don’t take it upon themselves to make their own judgment calls,” Puleo said.
Not everyone was practicing social distancing, however.
Staten Island state Sen. Diane Savino said that she had to reprimand a group of seniors who she saw sitting on a bench together in the neighborhood of South Beach Tuesday nearby the borough’s drive-thru coronavirus testing center.
“I yelled at them — ‘six feet, six, feet!'” she said. “They just laughed at me … it’s very concerning because they’re the people most at risk.”