- Title: 'They're not scared' - Naked Cowboy on tourists as coronavirus disrupts NYC life
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) STREET PERFORMER KNOWN AS THE NAKED COWBOY SINGING IN TIMES SQUARE
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 20:51
- Keywords: Broadway Central Park Empire State Building Naked Cowboy Times Square canceled closed coronavirus theaters
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4VWNYF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:As life in the U.S. upended overnight due to coronavirus fears from baseball to Broadway and food banks to blood drives, residents and visitors to New York City continued with their daily lives.
"There are people who come out and are going to live everyday," said the street performer known at the Naked Cowboy in Times Square on Friday (March 13). "Everyone's like high fiving. They go out of the way to show me how much they want to embrace me and they're not scared."
New York City resident Chris Jolly took a walk in Central Park.
"I mean, there's not much you can do, just wash your hands," he said. "They're closing the offices, they're closing the stores. You know, you can't go shopping, you can't go to work. Just go for a walk in the park. You know?"
Tourist Wendy Ramos tried to visit the Empire State Building, but with the $42 starting ticket price, decided not to go because it was too expensive.
"We're avoiding the subways and any mass, you know, big combined areas," she said. "So just taking Ubers and walking. Yeah, but we're not too worried."
Jessica Richardson, a visitor from Chicago, took photos near Rockefeller Center and wasn't too concerned either.
"I think it's more convenient for me personally, as a tourist," she said. "Like places aren't as crowded as they would be otherwise. So it works in my benefit. I just pray I don't get sick. Got hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes in my bag on deck."
New York's Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Broadway theaters were shut down in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus in the city. New York State has also banned gatherings of more than 500 people in order to slow the spread of the virus.
(Production: Andrew Hofstetter and Roselle Chen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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