Rockefeller Center’s glittering Christmas tree is one of New York City’s greatest winter attractions, but this year’s coronavirus restrictions will put a damper on the holiday spirit as the public will require a ticket and will have just five minutes to view the tree.
Usually the Rockefeller Christmas Tree attracts massive crowds throughout the winter. This year the tree lighting ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, which usually draws in hundreds of excited spectators, will be closed to the public and will be live broadcast on television.
The new viewing guidelines released Monday reveal to view the tree from December 3 to January guests must have a ticket.
There will be virtual queuing to manage lines where guests can scan a QR code to see wait times and receive a text message to know when to return to the line.
All people must wear masks, maintain six feet of social distance and will be limited to just five minutes to take in the spectable.
The tree will be lit every day from 6am ET to midnight and on Christmas Day it will be lit for 24 hours.
Rockefeller Center’s glittering Christmas tree is one of New York City’s greatest winter attractions, but this year’s coronavirus restrictions will put a damper on the holiday spirit as the public will require a ticket and guests will have just five minutes to view the tree. A view of the recently filled out Rockefeller Christmas Tree on Black Friday
The public already felt underwhelmed by this year’s 75-foot-tall, 45-foot-wide Norway spruce from Oneonta, New York that was noticeably sparse. The tree triggered a slew of memes and jokes over its ragged and shabby appearance when it arrived to New York City on November 14. Since then it has been filled out with branch ‘extensions’
All guests will be put in spaced out pods with no more than four people per pod.
Central Plaza, where the tree stands, will be closed to the public and 49th and 50th Streets between 5th and 6th Avenues will be closed to road traffic.
‘This is not a spectator event as it is in the past. What we do not want and can’t have is large crowds of people crowding in there,’ Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday in a conference call with reporters.
‘This is what we need to do to protect everyone. It’s a different approach but it’s an approach that will keep people safe,’ he added.
Last year’s festivities: This year the plaza surrounding the Rockefeller Christmas tree will be closed, guests seeking to view the tree must have a ticket, wait in queues, will have to wear masks and practice social distancing and be limited to just five minutes to view the tree
2019: A view of the packed crowds that gathered for the tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller center last year above
The restrictions come as New York City reports more than 290,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 19,500 deaths.
Nationally more than 13.3million cases of the virus have been recorded and there have been more than 266,000 deaths.
‘If you get a ticket, great, go see it. But I’m going to say it again, it’s just not like holidays we’ve gone through before,’ De Blasio said.
The public already felt underwhelmed by this year’s 75-foot-tall, 45-foot-wide Norway spruce from Oneonta, New York that was noticeably sparse.
The tree triggered a slew of memes and jokes over its ragged and shabby appearance when it arrived to New York City on November 14. Some compared the tree to Charlie Brown’s infamously sad looking tree in the Peanuts cartoons.
Last week workers sneakily filled out the tree by adding ‘extensions’ to its branches to make it appear more full and lush.
A view of this year’s 75-foot Norway spruce tree arriving at Rockefeller Plaza on November 14
The tree is currently being adorned with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights strong on five miles of wire. It will be topped with a three-dimensional star that weighs a whopping 900lbs and is covered in 3million Swarovski crystals
When the tree first appeared in New York, it’s shabby appearance was compared to Charlie Brown’s infamously sad looking tree in the Peanuts cartoons
The tree is currently being adorned with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights strong on five miles of wire.
It will be topped with a three-dimensional star that weighs a whopping 900lbs and is covered in 3million Swarovski crystals.
While the city is trying to continue with holiday traditions, the festivities have been lackluster.
This year’s 94th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade spanned just one block and was closed to the public and aired on television.
Almost as soon as the broadcast began at 9am on NBC this morning, aggrieved viewers began roasting the event on Twitter, admonishing lip-syncing performers, criticizing balloon selections, and blasting the Rockettes for forgoing their legendary kick line.
While the city is trying to continue with holiday traditions, the festivities have been lackluster. This year’s 94th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade spanned just one block and was closed to the public and aired on television. A view of floats on Thanksgiving Day from the Empire State Building pictured above
Normally between 8,000 to 10,000 people are involved in the Thanksgiving Day parade. But this year just 960 performers and staffers were involved in the parade, a reduction of 86 percent
The cast of Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations pictured performing at the Thanksgiving Day parade without any crowds to cheer them on above
This year’s parade was taped over the course of three days in an attempt to keep people at home as a result of rising coronavirus cases.
In a normal year, the celebration takes between 8,000 and 10,000 people – from marching bands to float handlers to dancers – to stage the parade, which runs from West 77th Street and Central Park West to 34th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
But this year just 960 performers and staffers were involved in the parade, a reduction of 86 percent.
As well as no in-person viewing, the parade route was also slashed from its usual 2.5-mile route to just a one-block area encompassing West 34th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says that Christmas and the New Year won’t be any different to Thanksgiving, and projects rising coronavirus cases throughout December.
Dr Celine Gounder, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, offered a grave warning about forthcoming spikes on Saturday.
‘We fully expect that in about a week or two after Thanksgiving we will see an increase in cases first, then about a week or two later you’ll start to see an increase in hospitalizations, and then another week or two after that you’ll start to see deaths,’ Gounder told CBS News, noting that symptoms of the virus can develop up to 14 days after exposure.
‘Unfortunately, that means that many people who celebrated with family, with friends over Thanksgiving will find themselves in the hospital, in ICUs over Christmas and New Years,’ she added.
