US cities scale back New Year’s Eve events and urge people to scrap parties
by Edward Helmore from US news | The Guardian on (#5TFTH)
Americans face stay-at-home celebration again as some mayors scale back or cancel public events amid Covid surge
Americans are again facing a stay-at-home New Year's Eve as US political leaders and senior health advisers have urged people to scrap party plans and avoid larger public events as daily cases of Covid-19 break all previous records.
In New York, attendance at the Times Square celebration known as the Ball Drop - in essence, tens of thousands of people watching a 12-foot geodesic sphere inlaid with Waterford crystals descend a long pole - has been capped at 15,000, down from pre-pandemic 60,000, with organizers encouraging revelers to watch it on TV or online.
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