A couple of months ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city’s famous New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square would be at “full strength.” Little more than a week before the event, however, he recalibrated and announced strict restrictions. for the world’s most famous NYE bash.
The event will till be taking place although with strict restrictions that will limit attendance and now require the wearing of masks. Like before, only the vaccinated will be able to attend. (NYC already has an indoor masks requirement. Here are those new restrictions:
• The event will be limited to 15,000 people (normal crowds are more than 50,000)
• No entry after 3 p.m.
• Everyone is required to wear a mask the entire time
• People must show proof of vaccination and an i.d.
This is all in response to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. New York City has been hit hard with cases and hospitalizations, tho most of the latter are among the unvaccinated.
Incoming mayor Eric Adams, who takes office Jan. 1, said de Blasio “made the right move to take precautionary measures as we learn to live with COVID and fight the Omicron variant.”
“New Yorkers and visitors alike can now enjoy Times Square and the rest of our city as we ring in 2022,” Adams stated in a news release.
New York traditionally has one of the world’s top New Year’s Eve destinations but that won’t be the case this year.
In normal years, many people arrive as early as 5 p.m., for the midnight ball drop. Savvy party veterans of the celebration know to be wary about some of the restaurants and bars in the Times Square area that offer pre-paid all-you-can-drink packages. They are often so packed you can only get maybe three or four drinks over a period of several hours.
PubClub.com provides these and other tips for attending NYC’s NYE celebration.
New Year’s Eve 2021, headed into 2022, is on a Friday.
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