Times Square Barricaded, Quiet for New Year’s Eve

Times Square Barricaded, Quiet for New Year’s Eve
The Times Square ball is reflected in a nearby building as it is tested out for the media ahead of the New Year's celebration in Times Square of New York City, N.Y., on Dec. 30, 2020. Carlo Allegri/Reuters
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NEW YORK—New York City’s Times Square was barricaded on Thursday, with only a handful of invited guests, including health care workers and others from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, allowed in to watch the New Year’s Eve ball drop in person.

Everyone else should stay home and watch the pared-down festivities on television, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, with scores of events around the United States similarly curtailed or moved online.