NYPD Patrols, Blockades to Keep Revelers Out of Times Square
- Annual New Year’s Eve ritual scrapped amid Covid-19 outbreak
- Security will include heavy weapons and bomb-detection teams
A pedestrian crosses the street in Times Square on Dec. 28.
Photographer: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
New York City police are beefing up patrols and erecting blockades to prevent New Year’s Eve revelers from descending on Times Square to witness the annual ball drop.
The annual event, which typically draws more than 1 million people, is being closed to the public to avoid the risk of Covid-19 virus contagion. The Waterford Crystal ball has been lowered there every year since 1907, except in 1942 and 1943 during wartime light “dimouts,” according to the Times Square Alliance, an organization of area businesses.