'All eyes' on New York: Reopening tests city torn by crises

NEW YORK (AP) — After three bleak months, New York, the corner of the U.S. hit hardest by the coronavirus, gradually began reopening Monday in what was seen as a landmark moment in the crisis and a test of the city's discipline.

With the virus in check — at least for now — stores previously deemed nonessential were cleared to reopen for delivery and pickup, though customers cannot yet browse inside. Construction, manufacturing and wholesalers also received the go-ahead to resume work.

“This is a triumph for all New Yorkers that we’ve gotten to this point,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

But he warned the city against letting its guard down and risking a resurgence of the virus: “We got this far by doing it the right way, by doing the social distancing, the face coverings. We’ve got to keep doing it at those work sites and everywhere if we expect to keep moving forward.”

New York City became the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, with more than 21,000 people dying citywide of confirmed or probable COVID-19. That is roughly 1 out of 5 of the 110,000 coronavirus deaths across the U.S.

At its peak, the scourge killed more than 500 people a day in New York City in early to mid-April. At the end of last week, the number of deaths per day had dropped into the single digits.

The number of people testing positive for the virus was down to 200 to 300 per day at the start of last week, compared with more than 6,000 a day in early April.

“All eyes will be on New York this next couple of months,” said urban policy expert Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “The city now has to prove that it really knows what it’s doing, that it can still be a dense city like New York and yet figure this out.”

Facing such...