Daily Mail: New York CANCELS New Year's Eve: World famous Times Square bash is canned for first time in 114 years amid COVID-19 fears - with celebrations replaced by 'virtual event' on app
* New York's Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop will be virtual this year to accommodate for living under the pandemic
* Times Square will be cordoned off by the NYPD on December 31st
* The event is co-produced by the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment
* Jamestown, which owns One Times Square, have built a virtual world of Times Square and an app to broadcast the New Year's Eve Ball drop
* While news and past events are highlighted during the celebration, organizers are looking to not linger on COVID and racial tension
New York's Times Square will bid farewell to 2020 without the usual huddled masses jamming the streets on New Year's Eve officials have announced, amid fears that crowds could spread coronavirus.
The New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square is among the biggest in the world, typically drawing about a million people to the streets of midtown Manhattan, with more than a billion more tuning in on television.
But this year Times Square will be cordoned off by the NYPD on December 31st, with organizers instead planning a scaled-back, virtual event and an app where revelers can view the countdown remotely.
The Times Square Alliance, which runs the event, said only a very limited group of socially distanced people will be allowed into the square for broadcast purposes.
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Update: New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square will be virtual this year (NYPost)
WNU Editor: A virtual event?!?!?!? How lame.
