New York City residents, gradually emerging from more than 100 days of coronavirus lockdown, celebrated an easing of social-distancing restrictions on Monday by shopping at reopened stores, dining at outdoor cafes and getting their first haircuts in months.
MORE THAN 2.3 MILLION PEOPLE INFECTED
New York City, the nation’s most populous metropolitan area, was the last region to move into Phase 2 of New York state’s economic reopening plan.
Restaurants and bars began offering outdoor service and many retailers started to allow patrons back into their stores.
Barber shops and hair salons welcomed customers for the first time since mid-March, with some fully booked for the next two weeks.
Playgrounds also reopened on Monday in New York City, which still accounts for more than a quarter of all US lives lost to coronavirus, more than 120,000 to date, as the number of known infections nationwide rose above 2.3 million.
Customers wearing face coverings lined up outside Clementine Bakery in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant on Monday, and a few enjoyed the warm summer morning sipping iced coffee at scattered tables on the sidewalk.
New York and New Jersey, another major hotspot months ago, are now at record lows of infection rates with 1% or 2% of diagnostic tests coming back positive.