NEW YORK (AP) – If the end of a year already seemed like a cause for celebration, 2020 could be it.
However, the coronavirus scourge that dominated the year is also approaching the New Year festivities and forcing authorities around the world to moderate them.
From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbor, major public explosions are being turned into TV-only shows and digital events. Firework displays were canceled on the Las Vegas Strip to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Even private parties in some places are restricted.
The occasion arouses mixed feelings for people like Cesar Soltero, who was taking photos and taking stock, in Times Square this week.
“I’m going to celebrate being alive, but I’m not exactly happy for this year,” said Soltero, 36, a visiting engineer from Orlando, Florida, after giving up his usual vacation to see his family in Mexico.
Simona Faidiga and Alessandro Nunziata strolled through Times Square with their Labrador retriever puppy, Maggie, who gave Faidiga a ride after she lost her job as a tour guide.
The Italian couple moved to Miami in search of new jobs in March, at a time when the pandemic froze tourism. He is working as a sales representative, but she has not yet returned to work. And they are not ready to declare that 2021 will be better, unintentionally.
“I mean, I don’t think it could be worse than 2020,” said Nunziata, 27.
Days before the ball was thrown in Times Square, it was clearly not the New Year as usual at Crossroads of the World. There was room to roam on sidewalks that would normally be impassable.
Vendors’ carts and shop windows in the gift shops of the region exhibited some 2021-themed souvenirs while the workers set up a stage for a celebration that will take place this year without the usual crowds of partygoers and kissing parties. The police will block the area so that viewers cannot see.
“It’s almost like an ‘Seinfeld’ episode,” said police commissioner Dermot Shea, invoking the 1990s “show about nothing”. very well stay home. ”
Special event guests will be the first to respond and essential workers. But they will not join the mayor on stage to lead the countdown. Instead, each guest will watch from a well-spaced private area.
The evening’s performances – including disco diva Gloria Gaynor singing the apt-for-2020 anthem “I Will Survive” – will be aimed at the TV audience.
New Year’s Eve will be different around the world, after a year in which the virus killed about 1.8 million people, including more than 330,000 in the United States
Germany has banned the sale of fireworks, which residents often shoot in the streets, and a firework display at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is disabled.
The same is true of fireworks over the River Thames, in the city of London, where New Year’s Eve also marks Britain’s final economic separation from the European Union. However, Big Ben, which has been largely silent since 2017, while its clock tower has been restored, will play 12 bongos at midnight.
The Netherlands has moved the national countdown from an Amsterdam park to a football stadium, where spectators will not be allowed and pyrotechnics will be replaced by “electric fireworks”.
In Rome, fireworks are still going on, but the usual concerts in public squares have been canceled in favor of live performances and art installations. Pope Francis will skip his typical December 31 visit to the Vatican’s full-size nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square and plans to deliver his New Year’s blessing in an enclosed location to prevent crowds from gathering.
Rio de Janeiro stopped fireworks, outdoor shows and rooftop parties that attract crowds of white revelers in the Copacabana neighborhood, where only residents can enter.
New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at Paulo Roberto Senna’s Copacabana tent, but the 57-year-old said there was no problem with the stoppage: “Money doesn’t buy our health!”
Hot dog salesman Fábio Henrique saw it differently.
“We are told to stay at home, but for those who have no money, where are we going to find ways to live?” asked Henrique, 39.
In Russia, New Year’s Eve is more celebrated than Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7 by the country’s Orthodox Christian majority. Public events have been banned or restricted in many regions. But the country’s so-called New Year’s Eve capital, the city of Kaluga, is attracting tourists with a week of festivities, despite calls from residents to cancel. Officials in Kaluga, 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Moscow, said precautions against viruses would be taken.
Poland told residents not to circulate between 7 pm on December 31 and 6 am on 1 January. Turkey has declared a four-day blockade from New Year’s Eve, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that security forces will inspect hotels for illicit parties.
In the United States, the Christmas morning bombing in downtown Nashville, Tennessee’s tourist district, prompted the city to cancel its plan to light fireworks and blow up a 2020 plaque.
“To say that you would be deaf to tones would be an understatement,” said Bruce Spyridon, president of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
In Las Vegas, the casino’s capacity is being limited to 25% and public meetings are limited by the governor to 50 people. But despite COVID-19’s rules and risk, tens of thousands of people are expected to celebrate the New Year on the Strip or downtown. The police said his best guess is 200,000 revelers.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suggested a new way to celebrate the holiday by lighting candles to honor the victims and front-line workers of COVID-19 and to expect a healthy 2021.
Back in New York, yoga and stress management instructor Allison Richard, 39, wrote some New Year wishes in confetti that will be launched at midnight in Times Square.
“Freedom”, she wrote, and “contentment”, “commitment”, “connection”, “prosperity” and “love”.
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Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.