Officials said they were optimistic that the city would begin to spring back to life, but the road back will be challenging. More than 885,000 jobs vanished during the outbreak, and strong gains are not expected for the city until 2022. The city budget hemorrhaged tax revenue and now faces a $9 billion shortfall over the next year. The beginning of the reopening process also provides the first major test for New York City’s public transit system, which was all but abandoned when the pandemic swept across the region. Transit officials predict that as many as 15 percent of usual riders — or 825,000 people — are likely to ride the system during the first phase of the recovery.

Source: New York Times June 08, 2020 09:21 UTC