Two years after an unsuspecting crowd in New York City welcomed 2020, the Times Square ball drop will return to something approaching normal—at least for the vaccinated. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that crowds will be welcomed back for a " big, strong, full strength" New Year's Eve celebration, but attendees over 5 years old will have provide proof that they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Deadline reports. The mayor, whose final day in office will be Dec. 31, said the "historic moment" when the square is packed with people again will be "further evidence to the world that we are 100% back."
"Hundreds of thousands of people there to celebrate. We can finally get back together again. It’s going to be amazing," de Blasio said, per the AP. The New York Times notes that the celebration will present a "logistical, and perhaps philosophical, puzzle" for the city's police officers. Many of them resisted the city's vaccine mandate for employees, but they will be tasked with checking revelers' proof of vaccination on New Year's Eve. Tom Harris, head of the Times Square Alliance, said people who can't be vaccinated because of a disability will have to show a negative COVID test. (Last year, events were mostly virtual, with only "an extremely limited group of in-person honorees" allowed in the square. )
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