Good morning. It's Friday, and it's the last day of 2021. Congratulations on making it through another rough year. Today, we'll look at how to celebrate New Year's Eve during the latest pandemic surge. We'll also look at how Mayor-elect Eric Adams has answered a top question for many businesses by announcing that he will keep a vaccine mandate for private-sector employers in place. Happy New Year, and stay safe. |
 | | Johnny Milano for The New York Times |
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Bolstered by high vaccination rates and undeterred by a spike in Covid-19 cases, New York City is pushing ahead with a scaled-back New Year's Eve celebration tonight in Times Square. Some public health experts and city officials have questioned the wisdom of having any celebration there when the pandemic is surging once again. |
San Francisco canceled an outdoor fireworks show. London's mayor canceled plans for an event in Trafalgar Square. |
"Given the increase in Covid cases due to Omicron, I would not go to Times Square to watch the ball drop," Dr. Danielle Ompad, at New York University epidemiologist, told my colleague Ashley Wong. |
But for Mayor Bill de Blasio, the celebration, because of requirements that attendees be vaccinated and masked, is safe enough. It is a symbol, he said, of how the city is moving forward. |
"It's really important to not give up in the face of this," he said in an interview with NBC on Thursday. |
The debate over the Times Square celebration reflects the internal anxiety many New Yorkers are feeling on the eve of 2022 as they weigh whether to celebrate, and assess how much risk they can or should take on. |
This year's Times Square ball drop, a free event, has been scaled back from earlier years after being closed to the public entirely last year. |
All attendees over the age of 5 must show proof of full vaccination to enter; anyone under 5 must be accompanied by a fully vaccinated adult. The crowd will be spaced out and limited to 15,000 people, far fewer than the hundreds of thousands that gathered before the pandemic. Everyone must wear a mask. |
The celebrations will kick off at 6 p.m., although visitors won't be allowed into the viewing areas until 3 p.m. KT Tunstall, Karol G and Journey are among the musical acts scheduled to perform. |
Shortly after the ball drops at midnight, Eric Adams will be sworn in as the city's 110th mayor. |
Some tips should be obvious by now: People should wear a face mask covering the nose and mouth, and wash their hands frequently. People should get tested for Covid-19 before and after the event, and keep wearing a mask in public. Here are some locations where New Yorkers can get tested. |
Consider getting off at a subway station a little farther away from Times Square and walking there to avoid the crowds. |
And, of course, anyone who isn't feeling well shouldn't go to the event. |
What to do if you don't go |
For those who don't go, there are still many ways to celebrate! |
Public officials are still warning against hosting large indoor gatherings, especially if people will not be wearing masks. Think through the risks before hosting such an event, and make sure precautions are in place, like limiting guests to only those who have gotten booster shots. |
New Yorkers can also watch the ball drop on TV. Most networks are carrying the event, as are several streaming services like Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV or Peacock. The Times Square Alliance is also broadcasting a livestream. |
On the last day of the year, expect a mostly cloudy day with patchy fog in the early morning and temps in the low 50s. Late at night, there's a chance of rain with temps in the 50s. |
Suspended today (New Years Eve). |
New York City's vaccine mandate for private employers will continue under Eric Adams |
 | | Dave Sanders for The New York Times |
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On Monday, New York City introduced a vaccine mandate for private-sector employees, the first of its kind in the nation. But even before it took effect, a question lingered: Would Mayor-elect Eric Adams keep it in place? |
On Thursday, he vowed that he would. Under the mandate, private employers must verify that on-site workers have received at least one vaccine dose. Employees who have opted for a two-dose vaccine must submit proof that they have received the second dose within 45 days. |
"Our focus is vaccine and testing, vaccine and testing, vaccine and testing," Adams said at a news conference, before turning to Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, de Blasio's health commissioner, who will stay on under Adams until March. |
"The private-sector employer mandate will stay in effect in the New Year, with a focus on compliance, not punishment," Chokshi said. |
Before the announcement, many business owners were unsure whether to abide by the mandate, or to wait until Adams took office and announced his own policy. Many public health experts have supported the decision, but some business groups have opposed it, particularly because it does not precisely match a similar federal mandate. |
"For large businesses with a global and national footprint, consistency between federal policies and state and local policies on vaccine and mask mandates and Covid protocols generally is really important," said Kathryn S. Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, which represents many large corporations. "And the de Blasio policy is not consistent in terms of timing or terms with the Biden policy." |
A tale of two hot dog vendors claims the top spot in this year's best Metropolitan Diary item, outpolling four other favorites. Here is one of the finalists. |
Every morning before I left for school, my mother would hand me an emergency quarter. This was back when cellphones were a luxury and you couldn't turn a corner in New York without seeing a pay phone. |
"Only use this if you absolutely must," she said as I slipped the coin into my pocket, where it would sit next to the one she had given me the day before. |
I spent Fridays after school in a small barbershop in Corona, Queens, either getting a haircut myself or accompanying a friend who was getting one. Every Friday, an older Dominican man would walk into the shop pulling a red-and-white camping cooler. |
Inside the cooler was a black bag. Inside the bag was what I had looked forward to all week. |
The smell of fried dough would overwhelm the combined scent of talcum powder, Barbicide and bay rum that had lingered in the air through the day. A well-trained nose could also pick up the scent of onions, olives and seasoned ground beef. Chicken, too, if the man had any left. |
"Empanadas, one dollar and twenty-five," he would bellow as the barbers continued cutting hair without flinching. |
Every Friday, I would dig deep into my pocket and fish around for five quarters, one for every day of the week. |
This is as good an emergency as anything, I would think to myself before making my request. |
"You have any chicken left?" |
Glad we could get together here. See you Monday. — M.Z. |
Melissa Guerrero and Olivia Parker contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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