[Correspondent Column] New York Falls Silent Again... Soaring Omicron Crisis

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The city of Fort Lee in New Jersey, where the reporter resides, is the gateway to Manhattan, New York. The only route from northern New Jersey to Manhattan is the George Washington Bridge (Koreans call this bridge ‘Jodari’) that lies between Fort Lee and Manhattan.

Around 5:30 PM on the 10th, vehicles on the George Washington Bridge, a major logistics artery in the northeastern United States, are moving without traffic congestion. Under normal circumstances, all lanes heading from New Jersey to Manhattan, New York City, at this time would be crawling at a snail's pace. (YouTube capture)

‘Jodari’ is a representative bridge symbolizing the outdated American transportation network, but in terms of traffic volume, it ranks among the top worldwide. It is by far the most congested road in the entire United States.

On the morning of the 9th (local time) at 8 a.m., the second Monday of the new year, I went out to the road to send my child to school. There was not a single car lined up to enter Jodari. There were no police officers managing traffic control either. The situation in the afternoon was no different. The roads, which should have been filled with trucks heading to the northeastern U.S. regions such as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut, were wide open.

An acquaintance was amazed, saying that it took only 20 minutes to get from Flushing, a Korean-dense residential area in New York City, to Jodari that day. Normally, it takes over an hour.

There is only one reason: the spread of the Omicron variant infections. Those infected with Omicron and those worried about infection are staying indoors. The surge in Omicron patients is palpable. On the 10th, 24 new COVID-19 cases were reported from my eldest child’s school. Since the school resumed normal operations last September, such numbers have never been seen. As more teachers and students are unable to attend work or school, classes have been disrupted daily.

With the rapid increase in patients, hospitals and pharmacies are overcrowded. Patience is required to get tested for COVID-19 and receive results. Recently, in New York and New Jersey, it takes 5 to 7 days to receive COVID-19 test results.

In this situation, the boarding requirements for flights to Korea have been tightened, causing dissatisfaction among the Korean community. To board a flight to Korea, a negative test result must be obtained within 72 hours before boarding. The previous condition of submitting a negative result obtained within 72 hours has been significantly strengthened.

An acquaintance expressed dissatisfaction, saying, "At this rate, it feels like they are telling us not to take flights to Korea." Some have given up on traveling to Korea due to lack of test results or testing positive just before the flight.

Jamie Dimon, the crown prince of Wall Street and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, gave a media interview from home that day. Wall Street banks returned to remote work, and the Financial District in lower Manhattan fell silent again. Although newly appointed New York Mayor Eric Adams emphasized that Wall Street employees must go to work to support low-income residents, it was to no avail.

As infections among lawmakers surged, the Democratic Party issued a ban on face-to-face contact for its members. An event by the Korean American Voters League, which was scheduled to discuss citizenship issues for Korean adoptees with the attendance of all four Korean American federal representatives, was also postponed.

Although the U.S. economy is recovering, the situation in New York, the epicenter of Omicron, remains severe. With over 80,000 new infections daily in New York City alone, businesses are on emergency alert. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce reported that 75% of its member companies experienced a sharp decline in year-end and New Year sales.

The New York City Budget Office recently forecasted that it will be difficult to recover pre-COVID-19 employment levels by the end of 2025. This is a revised outlook, delaying labor market recovery by more than a year compared to the forecast made in May last year.

This change occurred in about a month. The astonishing transmissibility of Omicron is increasing infections even among those who have received booster shots. Although Korea has recently seen a decrease in new infections, the moment we let our guard down, gaps will inevitably appear. It is not yet time to relax vigilance.