CORONAVIRUS | PROOF
Bryant Park, usually filled with tourists and with workers on break from the office, is seldom so empty.THE BACKSTORY
NEW YORK HAS SEEN CRISES BEFORE—BUT FIGHTING THE
COVID-19 PANDEMIC BROUGHT IT NEARLY TO A STANDSTILL.STEPHEN WILKES IS a photographer,
TED speaker, and creator of fine art.
But at his core, he’s a New Yorker.
Wilkes was born in the city, and most
of his life has unfolded on its streets
and avenues. This identity brought
extra heartache in the spring when New
York earned unenviable distinction as
a global hot spot and the U.S. epicen-
ter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
“city that never sleeps” finally did—for
weeks, and then, for months.
As the city went on lockdown in late
March, Wilkes asked for clearance to fly
over the famously protected nerve cen-
ter of American commerce and culture.
Officials said yes, and Wilkes and his
longtime friend, pilot Al Cerullo, took
a helicopter high above the avenues
and subway stops. They peered down
at a tent hospital in Central Park and
at the occasional rooftop sunbathers
and dog-walking apartment dwellers.But mostly they saw stillness: noth-
ing, and no one, moving. Empty streets,
empty tunnels, Bryant Park without
its typical midtown lunch crowd, and
an absence of office workers circulat-
ing around the Empire State Building.
“New York is like a river, always run-
ning with energy and motion,” says
Wilkes. “When you see New York
empty, it doesn’t make any sense.”
The city will bounce back, as it has
before. And when it does, Wilkes hopes
it’ll be as vibrant as ever. People will
likely be bursting with pent-up energy,
he says. But just as it did after Septem-
ber 11, 2001, it will also be grieving.
As Wilkes flew over Times Square—
which annually hosts more than 50
million visitors and one of the world’s
largest New Year’s Eve parties—a
screen flashed a message now univer-
sally embraced: “For those fighting for
our lives, thank you.” —DANIEL STONE