Life in the time of coronavirus

We are not accustomed to destruction looking, at first, like emptiness. The coronavirus pandemic is disorienting in part because it defies our normal cause-and-effect shortcuts to understanding the world. The source of danger is invisible; the most effective solution involves willing paralysis; we won't know the consequences of today's actions until two weeks have passed. Everything circles a bewildering paradox: other people are both a threat and a lifeline. Physical connection could kill us, but civic connection is the only way to survive.
-- Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

As the number of new cases of Covid in New York State continues to fall -- 674 on Tuesday, a number that would have been hair-on-fire alarming only a few months ago -- New York City is finally easing into Phase I reopening. A few more stores are doing curbside pickups, more restaurants are open for takeout, construction has started up again.

These playgrounds in Hell's Kitchen are still padlocked. I can't imagine that many parents will be letting their kids run around there even when they do reopen.