Stay Home: A Photoseries by Myra Rudin

Myra takes us on a journey of lifetime through New York City during the early stages of the pandemic.

As every New Yorker knows, it's a love/hate relationship with the city. We love the art, culture, museums, food, fashion, and yes, tourists (mostly). Of course, we don't like the noise, traffic, high prices, car horns, and rudeness (sometimes).

Everything changed on/about 13 March 2020 when New York City began its mandated lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Like millions of others around the world, life as one knew it changed radically. In a city like Manhattan, where everything is in excess, there was suddenly limited supplies of food and other basics such as toilet paper and thermometers. The entire city was shuttered, save for essentials like pharmacies and supermarkets. Visits with family and friends were risky at best, for fear of covid transmission. New York was soon to become the country's epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.

For me, and surely others, walking became a daily ritual, a way to pass the time. The streets were vacant of cars and (mostly) people. While subways and buses were running (free fare), there were virtually no riders. With lower pollution, you could see and hear different birds for the first time in parks. The quiet hush hovering over the city was only interrupted by the constant sound of ambulance sirens, indicating another victim to the disease.

After the first day or two, I walked passed a store that had a big sign in the window that read "Sold Out of Sanitizer & Wipes". Something clicked in my mind that the new normal was upon us and I should be documenting it. From then until mid-May 2020 I took over 350 photographs and later in the year created a documentary photobook of 90 pages, containing 163 of those photos.

Empty Spaces

Rockfeller Ice Rink 

Bryant Park 

Grand Central

Alone on the platform

Staying Informed

It Only Takes 20 Seconds, a UNICEF sign

Blood donors are needed urgently 

A sign outside a pharmacy store

Silent Streets

Park Ave leading to Grand Central Station

East 42nd St. near UNICEF and NYHQ

Broadway

Coping Their Way

A couple prepared for COVID 19

A sleeping woman

Biker with street to himself

Man in his own space

Carry On

An enthusiastic food worker

Ambulances ready for the next call

Food delivery person

Emergency arrival

The Supply Chain

Line outside the supermarket

Empty shelves 

Sign outside store

No bread left

Abundand Appreciation 

A few of the many signs around the city expressing the heartfelt appreciation to the health workers, first responders, and other essential workers in New York.

Aftereffects

Abandoned protective gear

Personal effects discarded on the street

On a positive note-Life continues: a starling spotted in a park

Statistics and a somber reminder

As of December 10, 2021, there have been an estimated 962,651 cases of COVID-19 in New York City, as well as 125,645 hospitalizations, and 34,956 deaths.