SEE: Rockefeller Center Statues Don Masks As NYC Enters Phase 2
MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Statues at New York City's Rockefeller Center were outfitted with face masks to remind New Yorkers to wear the protective equipment as thousands return to work this week.
Rockefeller Center landlord Tishman Speyer has the statues equipped with masks Sunday, one day before New York City enters phase two of its economic recovery, which allows in-store retail, offices, salons, places of worship and restaurants to reopen with capacity limits.
Workers placed masks on the statues of Atlas on Fifth Avenue and Prometheus and the Mankind Figures — known individually as the Maiden and the Youth — located near Rockefeller Center's main plaza.
New York City entered phase two of its reopening Monday just two weeks after being cleared for phase one activities such as curbside retail and construction. New York City was the last region in the state to begin its economic recovery from coronavirus after suffering through one of the worst outbreaks anywhere in the world.
More than 209,000 New Yorkers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus with 17,636 confirmed deaths and an additional 4,685 probable deaths, according to the city Health Department's latest numbers.
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This article originally appeared on the Midtown-Hell's Kitchen Patch
