5 Places That Went From Packed to Empty After Coronavirus

5. Times Square, New York — The City That Never Sleeps… Went to Sleep

And then there was Times Square. Normally, this is one of the most recognizable concentrations of people, advertisements, taxis and tourists on the planet. But in March 2020, the crowds virtually disappeared. On March 16, as New York introduced increasingly strict measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, Times Square was filmed with only a few pedestrians and vehicles visible. The enormous electronic billboards were still glowing. The buildings were still there. The streets were still there. But the people were gone. It created one of the defining visual images of the pandemic: perhaps the world’s most famous symbol of urban crowds suddenly looking strangely abandoned.