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New York is slowly returning to normal, but still not up to pre-covid levels in a lot of these ways. Maybe the slow rebound is more noticeable here because we have a large tourist sector that's still missing and only a handful of other big cities (Philly, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, L.A., Orlando, Vegas, Miami, NOLA) have that. How close do you think you are to normal where you live: 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% ? (And I realize that schools are a wild card , as most are some combination of in-person and online.)
New York is probably about 50% right now. Its generally livelier than its been since this all started.
The biggest differences are the fraction of office workers have returned (below 20%), and tourism is in the toilet. Retail vacancy is also startlingly high and easily noticeable when walking around, and there is either a greater amount of homeless or its more noticeable due to less foot traffic.
I think New York will go backwards a bit as we get into the holiday season since that is traditionally the busiest time of the year, and this year won't resemble holidays of past years since many events are cancelled, many hotels still closed, no big galas, dinners, parties, etc.
Philadelphia and Chicago feel more back to normal than New York, but still dealing with the same issues, just to a lesser extent. I would imagine the same for most large cities right now.
I haven't been to San Fran or LA, but I've been told from friends there are increased issues with homelessness, open drug use, etc.
Lets hope 2021 brings more positive news and increased normalcy for these cities.
I don't know about office life in the Birmingham area, since I am still working from home. But things seem pretty busy in the city. I'm also not a young nightlife guy, but when we do go out, I have really appreciated the outdoor dining, bar, and brewery options. In fact, I like it so much, I hope much of it continues post-pandemic. I find hanging outside at a bar or restaurant so much nicer than being inside a loud, crowded location (yes, showing my 54 here I know - LOL). Of course, this is in a part of the country where a sizable proportion of the population thinks Covid is a hoax and complains about wearing masks, so that likely factors into the business.
I live in the Charlotte area. Charlotte is about 80% to 85%, suburbs about 90%
Visited Asheville weekend before last. I'd say about 70%
Visited Charleston this past Saturday. From what I saw, 90%
This is restaurants, malls, parks, greenways, lakes, beaches, Blue Ridge Pkwy. (which was the most crowded I've seen it, and I've been driving the Parkway my whole life of 55 years), stores, etc.
In Central Florida everything is supposed to be 100% except for bars/restaurants (50%) but people are still staying home or doing takeout with generally maybe 25% capacity overall in bars/restaurants. The theme parks (WDW, Sea World and Universal) are operating at limited capacity also. It's definitely no where near normal traffic yet.
Austin is pretty dead. You can definitely go out and get a drink on a patio, and there are probably a handful of shady bars that look like life before COVID, but overall nightlife has to be something like 25%.
Office activity is probably down even more. Most white collar workers WFH. Retail and daytime social activity is probably the most active. Maybe 80% normal there?
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