Thoughts on New York City's Curfew

As I write this we are just under 90 minutes away from the third night of New York City's curfew.

It was first imposed jointly by Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio on Monday night at 11 p.m. Yesterday, de Blasio extended the curfew through June 7th from 8 p.m. through 5 a.m. except for essential workers. NYC is scheduled to begin phase one of reopening on June 8th.

On one hand, the curfew doesn't affect me directly. Over the past two and a half months, I have been seldom outside after 8 p.m. So the curfew hasn't changed those habits.

On the other hand, the curfew is affecting at a psychological level. How can it not be when one sees all sorts of establishments being boarded up bracing for the worst kind of violence?

Keep in mind all of this bracing for the worst is happening following a period where more than 200,000 New Yorkers were afflicted with COVID-19 with more than 21,000 losing their lives because of it.

While it is true the number of cases and deaths has been declining I don't see how that trend will continue when so many people are not only defying the curfew but are gathering in large numbers. There was less looting last night, but that doesn't change the fact that as long as people are gathering in large numbers then we can expect another surge in COVID-19 thereby throwing a wrench into reopening plans for NYC.

With the news today that former Minneapolis PD officer Derek Chauvin has now been charged with second degree murder in the death of George Floyd along with his three colleagues being charged with aiding and abetting perhaps the violence will ease in NYC, Minneapolis and across the country and things will have cooled down by Sunday. But there are no guarantees especially with the mercurial President Trump looming far too large with the threat of sending in the military to enforce domestic law despite the objections of his own Defense Secretary.

Getting back to a more personal point of view, I have now been unemployed for two months. In that time, I have applied for more than 90 jobs as well as taking the online COVID-19 contact tracing course from Johns Hopkins University. About half of the jobs I have applied for are outside New York City and the surrounding area.

I have now lived in New York City over a little over 20 months. My attempts at socializing here have been far more miss than hit before the cataclysmic events of the past several months. I haven't entirely given up on NYC, but I am keeping my options open. In the midst of all the death and now destruction in NYC one cannot help but seek out greener pastures. Yet with all the other pasture there is little evidence to suggest they will be any greener.

If I do relocate there's a good chance I'll end up in a community which has seen its own share of sickness and unrest be back in Boston, Pittsburgh, Louisville or anywhere else in this country. The only difference with NYC is that the problems are invariably larger in scale. Under these circumstances, a life of hermitage looks downright idyllic.

But life is almost never idyllic no matter where you are. There will always be problems big and small. It's just of late our problems have been big compounded by bigger problems. Our spring discontent could pale to what the heat of summer could bring.

Realistically, I can only take things a day at a time, perhaps hour by hour. All I can do is to keep looking for work and adapt to the changing conditions as best I can and find joy wherever it might be - curfew or no curfew. The need to adapt and find joy is a necessity in both sickness and health. It is also a necessity whether I remain in New York City or not.