New York City Grinds to a Halt

[0] Hi, yes, we're reporters.

[1] We're asking how businesses are doing in Chinatown right now.

[2] You're smiling.

[3] I think you know the answer to that question.

[4] It's down.

[5] You know, it's been down for a month and a half.

[6] It's going to go down more.

[7] This is not the bottom.

[8] From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro.

[9] This is the Daily.

[10] Everything is running slow.

[11] We're doing half of what we usually do in that's part of it.

[12] 50 % less than before.

[13] Easily 60%.

[14] Across America, businesses are scaling back, firing workers, and shutting their doors because of the coronavirus.

[15] Have you ever seen it like this before?

[16] No, I've never seen it before.

[17] Never, never in my life.

[18] That is a serious epidemic.

[19] In New York City, that's started in Chinatown.

[20] Stories of economic downturn, even discrimination against Chinese communities are coming to light across the country.

[21] Fueled by anxiety.

[22] Here in New York City, business owners in Chinatown say sales are down because of widespread fear.

[23] Within days, it had expanded to the entire city by order of the government.

[24] And earlier today, Governor Andrew Cuomo explained the extraordinary measure that he is taking to protect New Yorkers and limit the spread of the coronavirus.

[25] Today, what it sounded like as New York City's economy Ground to a halt.

[26] Life as we know it for tourists and New Yorkers would be quite different for the time being.

[27] It's Friday, March 20th.

[28] Hello.

[29] Hi.

[30] What channel is this?

[31] The New York Times?

[32] New York Times?

[33] Podcast.

[34] Yeah, what's up, guys?

[35] Good morning, guys.

[36] Good morning.

[37] How are you?

[38] So this is Salat -Tan.

[39] It's Sunday, March 15th, and I am in Manhattan's Chinatown.

[40] There are some souvenir shops open, a few bakeries and restaurants open, but also a fair number of places are closed with their gates pulled down in front or with cardboard over their windows.

[41] I'm about to meet the owner of this restaurant, Amazing 66, and I am just getting to the front of the restaurant right now.

[42] Hello!

[43] Hi Helen!

[44] Thanks to meet you.

[45] Hi Stella.

[46] Nice to see.

[47] We just did an elbow bump.

[48] Actually it's still a little, you know, early, but 12 foot crowd usually is lunch crowd should be coming in.

[49] But now, you see, we only have one person at one table.

[50] That's an empty restaurant.

[51] My name is Helen Ng, and I am the restaurant owner of Amazing 66 on March Street in Manhattan.

[52] I actually born in Hong Kong, and I came over to United States with my family and four other siblings in 1969.

[53] I'm 12 G .S .L. at the time.

[54] My parent was not working on the garment manufacturing.

[55] I honestly say that I've been start working here underage the third day that I get to the United States.

[56] I go to school and then I go to the garment manufacturing to work after school.

[57] And how long have you been running this restaurant?

[58] This is my 40 years.

[59] Since the business keeps going down and my staff is worried about the transportation when they're traveling and I guess I have no choice but they decide to close up the restaurant as of tomorrow, the 16.

[60] And of course I don't really like it or don't want to but I have no choice.

[61] It's sad, you know, I mean as I told my staff I say they're family like me. I mean like a family to me so if I don't see them I feel that I'm not, I can't, I'm not home, you know, but I hope this is my risk will go away soon.

[62] And everybody be healthy.

[63] And what's the food that you're going to miss the most from your restaurant?

[64] From my restaurant, so many of them, you know.

[65] I have the pumpkin with the short rib.

[66] I have the chicken with garlic sauce.

[67] I have the lobster that cooked with cheese and so many, so many.

[68] Well, I hope you can reopen.

[69] eat all those foods again soon with your staff and your family.

[70] Thank you.

[71] I hope everybody can reopen, so make the Chinatang be, you know, blossom again.

[72] You know, more people come back there.

[73] I just want to see the street that full of people instead of empty.

[74] That's the most important.

[75] All right, very nice meeting you.

[76] Very nice to meet you.

[77] Good luck.

[78] And I'll definitely come back and reopen.

[79] Elbow.

[80] Okay.

[81] I hope I'll see you again soon, okay?

[82] Bye.

[83] While there are closures and cancellations throughout New York City, there are big crowds outside grocery stores.

[84] They are lined up around the block on the Upper West Side.

[85] The most happening spot in any neighborhood right now, the grocery store.

[86] Regular shoppers rarely see this big a crowd here.

[87] Long lines of anxious shoppers have left shelves bare everywhere.

[88] Okay, so this is Alex.

[89] It's about 2 .30 p .m. on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm standing in in front of this market in my neighborhood called Halsey Traders Market.

[90] And it's kind of like a cross between a small grocery store and what we call a bodega.

[91] It's not a full -service grocery store, but you can come here to get, you know, a few toiletries or some vegetables, whatever you need for the night.

[92] Yeah, I'm going to go in and I'm going to see what's going on there.

[93] So I just walked in the front door and there's a lot of people here right now.

[94] So there's about three little counters where people are checking out.

[95] Each one is pretty busy right now.

[96] There's a line behind each one of them.

[97] I see this one woman right here at the counter.

[98] She's buying a lot of cleaning products, like Lysol wipes and sprays.

[99] Okay, I'm gonna go.

[100] $1 .25.

[101] Hey, are you, Jiu?

[102] Nice to meet you.

[103] I'm not gonna shake your hand if that's okay.

[104] I'm not gonna shake your hand either.

[105] Great, okay.

[106] Can I get you to just say your name and what you do here real quick?

[107] Yeah, sure.

[108] My name is Juju.

[109] I've been supervising this store and the key food down there for the past 10 years.

[110] And we've never seen anything like this.

[111] It's just a sheer volume of customer shopping at the same time.

[112] You know, you would think like perishable items wouldn't be moving.

[113] I have no eggs.

[114] Yogurt is running out.

[115] Meat is running out.

[116] What did it feel like for you when you saw the line starting to get really crazy?

[117] What were you thinking in your head?

[118] I was extremely stressed.

[119] like yesterday i went so unprepared bags under my eyes i'm working 19 hours sometimes yeah i'll get like a half hour sleep um my my employees are overworked i am overworked i'm shaking guys i'm speaking to you not because i'm nervous your leg is shaking i'm tired i'm very tired you know i'm a cashier for five minutes i'm stocking meat for five minutes i'm doing everything and at one point in time there was a few shoplifters i swear to god i didn't even have time talk to them i was like I tap them on the shoulder.

[120] Have a good day.

[121] Enjoy.

[122] What were they stealing?

[123] Soap.

[124] If somebody is desperate enough to steal soap, what do you do?

[125] Have a good day, man. I don't know if you see my eye twitching.

[126] I feel like my eyes twitching.

[127] I can't tell.

[128] You know, for the past 30 years, my family has been around over here operating.

[129] My dad's 72 years old when he comes around here.

[130] People still recognize him.

[131] So, you know, you feel bad for people.

[132] you know you really want to help what's going on brother we have no garlic we have no onion we have no our refrigerators are empty our walking boxes are empty um for as long as i know my entire life boarshead never delivers on sunday they don't deliver on saturday either they quote saturday and sunday bar's head is the lunch meat yes the delicatessen meats um and most popular in new york and I called the guy yesterday and I was like, hey, listen, we don't have anything.

[133] And the guy's like, you know, we don't deliver on Sunday ever, right?

[134] I was like, I told him, I was like, look, if you have any common sense as a businessman and if you have a heart, you'd get your ass up this morning, all right?

[135] And you deliver food, all right?

[136] Because people are running out.

[137] Called me this morning at 7 o 'clock in the morning.

[138] He's like, hey, I'm in front of your store.

[139] And he had a full truck, so he didn't just come serve me. boardside is a really big company but each route owner is independent you know so that's that's where i wanted to come from it's like this guy got up you know left his family to do something like that that's something i appreciated a lot when you said that you saw this line and you were nerve -wracked and you were panicked what was the worst fear that was going through your head like what were you specifically panicked about that people wouldn't do what i was doing the deep breaths you know that people would start fighting each other, and that we would have to handle that.

[140] Like, where's the support that we should have, you know, like from our government, right?

[141] In that scenario, what am I supposed to do?

[142] Put my own life at danger or one of my guys or...

[143] Over toilet paper or something.

[144] Toilet paper or something.

[145] You know, like, if, hypothetically speaking, we are the only businesses, will we have police officers standing outside supporting us?

[146] where we have, you know, fire department people just sticking around, like just more bodies around, is there going to be a National Guard, you know, if that case does happen, these are all worst -case scenarios, but these are the only things I would think about, you know, moving forward.

[147] Like everything that we've dealt with, the sleep deprivation, my own personal issues, all these things, I'm all right, right?

[148] But if it goes a few steps further, what do we do?

[149] The United States is starting to shut down as millions.

[150] of Americans are working from home.

[151] Now, thousands of schools have closed.

[152] Millions of Americans are working from home.

[153] When you avoid public places, you hurt sales at restaurants, retailers, malls.

[154] You've seen the impact.

[155] We talked to Uber and lift drivers that they've seen a 70 % drop -off from their sales from the last few weeks.

[156] Hey, this is Jessica Chung.

[157] It's Monday, March 16th.

[158] I'm on the Upper West Side and I'm actually standing in the lobby of my apartment building waiting for a lift because I wanted to talk to one of the many workers who are still working during this pandemic.

[159] There are people who can't work from home.

[160] There are people who might not have paid sick rules.

[161] And I wanted to ask them what it's like to be working during this time.

[162] You want to close the window?

[163] No, we should probably leave it open, right?

[164] Yeah, you always keep one window open.

[165] Yeah, yeah.

[166] I see that you have a can of lysol spray, a can of, of Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer on your cup holder, and you're wearing a mask?

[167] Right.

[168] I'm 75 years old.

[169] I have diabetes.

[170] I have a groinny bronchitis.

[171] So there are two very bad conditions for the virus.

[172] I have to protect myself.

[173] And I have to protect you.

[174] I think that it should be mandatory for every taxi driver to have a mask.

[175] Because we pick up around 30 to 35 people a day.

[176] And only one person with the virus can contact us about 35 people.

[177] And that's terrible.

[178] My name is Raoul Giansante.

[179] I'm originally from Argentina.

[180] I'm in this country for 47 years.

[181] And all my life I was, my work was to do custom, hand -car frames with gold leaf for artists and museums and our galleries.

[182] But three years ago, I'd fall in the street, I have an erratic disc.

[183] So the only position that I'm not in pain is when I'm sitting.

[184] The only thing that I could find out that I can be sitting and make money is the taxi.

[185] And I'm so happy that I'm doing this because in 47 years of living in New York, I discovered in six months more than I did in 47 years.

[186] Oh, what did you discover?

[187] Many places in Brooklyn that I didn't know much about Brooklyn, many places, beautiful.

[188] beautiful gardens, beautiful buildings, all over the city that I never expect that they were going to be here.

[189] That I was going to be able to see something like this.

[190] And now I can see everything.

[191] Now I had the opportunity to see everything.

[192] Can you tell me how business is doing for you?

[193] Very slow.

[194] Usually when I work in the morning, I drive many.

[195] parents with the kids to schools.

[196] At night, when I was Saturdays and Sundays and Friday nights, usually I pick up between 35 and 45 people.

[197] Yesterday I went out to work.

[198] I picked up on the whole day, 11 people.

[199] So it's really slow and this is affecting everybody.

[200] Given that you have have so many risks of getting the virus, why are you still working?

[201] Because, to tell you the truth, because the retirement in the United States is so low, that is not enough to buy food.

[202] So I have to work.

[203] If you stopped working, what would happen?

[204] I have no idea because I won't have enough money to pay rent or to buy.

[205] food or to survive so I have to work I have to do it well thank you so much okay you are very welcome you are very welcome and it's gonna go on the radio yes we are on the radio we are also on the on phone like a podcast uh -huh you I could send you a link and all you have to do is press play okay yeah we'll be right back nightlife in New York City going dark all bars across the city of New York will be closed.

[206] Many restaurants are now limited to takeout and delivery services.

[207] Thousands of employees at New York City night spots about to be out of work.

[208] I'm thinking if we do this, it'll open sooner.

[209] If we leave them open and everybody gets really sick, then everything gets closed for months.

[210] Okay, it is March 16th, and this is Daniel Kimet.

[211] I'm going to be going over to see Luca DiPietro.

[212] He's a restaurant owner, owns five restaurants.

[213] restaurants here in Manhattan.

[214] He's going to be talking to staff about the shutdown, and that's all I'm here now.

[215] Yes, he's not here.

[216] Come, Luffy.

[217] He's not here yet.

[218] Yes, come, come.

[219] I'm Adriana.

[220] Oh, yeah, very nice to meet you.

[221] Yes, so sit.

[222] I'll just thank you.

[223] Okay, now.

[224] Hi, guys.

[225] How you doing?

[226] Hey, how are you?

[227] I'm here to talk to my staff, and, you know, they already know that, you know, restaurants have been ordered to shut down but I just want to talk to them and give them a plan how are you doing today just yourself I'm very tired and very you know upset but can I talk to you in private for a second yeah of course do you have yeah okay okay he's asked me to uh not be there as he's talking to his staff so that conversation's happening right now over you can hear them but yeah I'll talk to him after so do you mind telling me what you just spoke to your staff this is what I guess maybe nine people or something yeah but I mean no I mean what I told them I don't know if you could hear it because I was just telling them that you know you know as of tonight we have to close and that I'm really sorry that I couldn't keep it open And I told them, you know, I'm pushing very hard to get this delivery business up and running so that I can hopefully, you know, need help and get them back in and help out with packaging food and, you know, maybe taking orders, delivering, you know, if we get busy, I would love for us to get busy so that I can bring people back in, you know.

[228] So based on the staff here's here tonight, you've got, what, three cooks right now?

[229] In the back, you got a busboy, server, manager, and the bartender?

[230] Yeah.

[231] So in this case, so of these people here tonight, how many of them don't have a place right now?

[232] No, none of them.

[233] There's no money, you know, there's no money to pay salaries.

[234] I love, you know, these guys are great.

[235] So the people that work here are amazing, and it's a good group of people that everybody understands.

[236] And, you know, everybody's shocked.

[237] I guess it's a national crisis, but, you know, we don't see national.

[238] We see what is in front of us, and it's tough.

[239] It's very tough, and people are going to, you know, be suffering.

[240] And I don't know what this, you know, how much money is going to be available for people who lose their job.

[241] And nothing like this has ever happened, so I don't know what is in place.

[242] I just know that it pains me, greatly to let you know let people down so it's but I know it's it's not me but that's that's I feel I think I'm used to rely on my own strengths and possibly sometimes you you know your strength is not enough good how are you yeah I'm okay Luca talked to you guys how did how was it I mean we knew that it was coming but I would say it all happening so fast, so we didn't really have time to prepare for that.

[243] Most of us are working on a paycheck to paycheck.

[244] I have a little daughter and a wife.

[245] We got me at this location.

[246] We got married right here.

[247] That's why it's hard to see this place shutting down.

[248] So my name is Akram Bouchet.

[249] I've been working for the company since 2012.

[250] It's almost eight years now.

[251] I would say.

[252] My wife also works in the business.

[253] She works in at different restaurants.

[254] So today they're officially closed.

[255] They basically fired everyone.

[256] So yeah, so the thing is like both of us work in the same business and we're not going to be making money for God knows how long and we have rent to pay.

[257] We have a child to take care of.

[258] We have insurance to pay and we're little savings that we're probably going to last for a month maybe.

[259] And so, yeah.

[260] How would that be fair?

[261] This is Andy Mills.

[262] It is Monday night, and all of the bars in New York City have been told that they have to close at 8 p .m. And so I've come here to Sunny's bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

[263] My favorite bar, maybe in the entire world.

[264] It is at the edge of Brooklyn, right on the waterway.

[265] You can see the Statue of Liberty off in the distance.

[266] And I'm going to go spend the last minutes of being able to be at a bar in New York City with whoever's inside.

[267] Just hold me tight.

[268] Tell me you're just telling me your name.

[269] My name is Henrik.

[270] I was actually going to go to like IKEA to get like some stuff even though I'm not like you know I'm trying to be like smart about it like knock outside but I was like all right you know I just want some stuff from Ikea I get there and you know I get to Ikea and this like dude comes out he's like it's like it's close it's all like they shut it down it's close and I was like what do you mean it's like 5 p .m and he was like no it's closed uh so I was like okay wow this is really happening like ikea got shut down so it's like you know it's like all right might as well just like go to sunnies you know this this bar we're at right now which is like my favorite bar so because this is they're close they're closing it down tonight like like eight i believe so this is like my last chance to like get out and be free before i'm going to like be inside for like i don't know how long i guess yeah yeah yeah now we're just like go home like we've stocked up on food so i think we're going to be good for a while, yeah.

[271] Are you here for just one last round before they close?

[272] We realized we were in the neighborhood, and then we're like, oh, sunnies is probably still open.

[273] Like, this is the last half hour.

[274] We got to, we got to do something.

[275] We look at the clock, we're like, oh, my God, there's a half hour left.

[276] You got to get the last beer.

[277] Yeah, we got to have the last drink here.

[278] This is going to be our last drink for, like, the next four to eight weeks, if not more, like, it has to be Sunnis, right?

[279] I mean, I'm going to probably keep drinking at home.

[280] Let me ask you this.

[281] What are you going to miss from being out in a bar?

[282] What's the difference?

[283] Oh, of course.

[284] Just bumping into a friend or meet a new person.

[285] Seeing, like, you know, the classic bartender.

[286] Everything that a bar has to offer, you know.

[287] You're outside of your house, which is good.

[288] If you live in a tiny, like, shoebox apartment that a lot of us do, you know.

[289] Yeah.

[290] I have a little glass of wine, just like a small one.

[291] Yeah, a little small one.

[292] Yeah, but it's kind of cushy.

[293] Can you just tell me your name and where we're at right now?

[294] My name is Tone Johansen and I'm at Sunday's Bar.

[295] And what do you do here at Sunny's Bar?

[296] Well, I run this fine establishment.

[297] Well, I should say own this fine establishment.

[298] You do.

[299] You own it and you run it.

[300] I do.

[301] Run it well.

[302] Thank you.

[303] How are you feeling?

[304] What are you thinking right now?

[305] Well, I've been through a crisis or two before, and there's one thing to fight, you know, the new boogeyman, which is this virus, another to cope with the fear that it instills in all of us.

[306] And what I try to concentrate on is how to kind of take care of your emotional health.

[307] health because the fear is the alarm clock that wakes us up into action but if we keep that alarm clock ringing it will just drive us crazy in the end and we can't take care of business this will pass believe it or not it will pass it's like there's a no i'm norwegian and there's a Norwegian proverb that i love that goes like this either it will go well or it will pass and those are two good options and we will get through this and especially New Yorkers we will get through us because we're a hardy bunch.

[308] You know, we just buckle down and get through stuff.

[309] I guess we got to close this place down, huh?

[310] Oh, I think we've got about 15 minutes in which I will enjoy my little glass of wine.

[311] All right.

[312] Cheers.

[313] All right.

[314] Cheers.

[315] Well, it's just a couple minutes after eight, the music has been turned off.

[316] have been asked to go home, and it's just me and the bartender, and the owner speaking in Norwegian to her Norwegian friends who are now putting on their coats, heading out.

[317] Tuna, now that the bar's closed and emptied, like how are you feeling about the financial aspect of being closed for a week, two weeks, three weeks, a month, maybe two months?

[318] I do have to say that the finances right now are stressing me out more than the virus.

[319] It's like I feel like we have a plan in place for how to try to prevent the spread of the virus, but we need a financial plan.

[320] And that's my main worry right now.

[321] It's a big uncertainty.

[322] When you look out at all the other businesses in New York from restaurants to taxi drivers, How common do you think that feeling that you're having is?

[323] I think it's in everybody's hot.

[324] You know, I mean, New York City, it's a place where people hustle.

[325] I think every New Yorker is a hustler, unless you were just born into money, you know how to hustle.

[326] Otherwise, you just go back home again.

[327] But that being said, we also know how to get through.

[328] crisis and we've been tested before and this is a test we'll take it day by day and you know if you feel like you are paralyzed and can't do something about the situation you're in you know if you can't take that first step try to lift the foot and if you can't lift your foot try to wiggle your toe and we'll get through it.

[329] Uh, Tuna, thank you for talking with me. And you too.

[330] And thank you for stopping by and thank you for caring, you know.

[331] We'll be right back.

[332] Here's what else you need to another day.

[333] Italy passed a grim milestone on Thursday, announcing that deaths from the coronavirus have reached 3 ,400, surpassing the toll in China, where the pandemic began.

[334] At the same time, China announced a very different milestone, reporting no new local infections for the first time, a sign that it has turned a corner in containing the disease.

[335] In the United States, the number of infections approached 12 ,000.

[336] California ordered all residents to remain in their homes, and the economic cost of the pandemic was revealed in new government data.

[337] Unemployment claims rose by 70 ,000 in the past week, an unusually rapid surge as the businesses shut down over the virus began laying off workers.

[338] The Times reports that the stimulus package, under negotiation in Congress, to try to revive the economy, would send payments of $1 ,200 to individuals and $2 ,400 to families, but would be phased out for wealthier Americans.

[339] That legislation, expected to cost $1 trillion, is likely to be passed in the coming days.

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[344] See you on Monday.