Young New Yorkers Prepare for Another Lockdown

No more parties, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs again? New York may be returning to its lockdown protocol thanks to the new COVID-19 strain Omicron. 

As news of an uptick in cases of the fast-moving variant spread, causing New York City to begin shutting down, Gen Zers like Bobby Sucemo look at the future with dread. “The first lockdown took all of my creative energy away from me,” said Sucemo, a 22-year-old artist living in Bushwick. “I felt like I had made a mistake being a creative because there was no longer any more support. Now that the restrictions have been lifted since summertime and I have been finding success being a creative, I could not imagine going back to a lockdown period again. All of my work, my plans, and my future once again down the drain.” 

Isolation and loneliness have been especially common among Generation Z and Millennials during the nearly two-year-long pandemic. Alec Penez, 28, has been trying not to let COVID-19 and its variants get to him. “If a second lockdown does happen, I have to have all of my hobbies accessible to me during this time,” said Penez, who lives in Washington Heights. “One thing I love to do is listen to music and watch movies. As long as I have creative outlets to focus on, it makes my time feel productive.” 

Gen Z, sometimes known as the loneliest generation, has to be intentional about fighting isolation. Gregory Alexander, a 17-year-old Harlemite, believes communication with others can help alleviate the feeling of loneliness. “I can be an introvert, and I found myself just locked up in my thoughts,” he said. “I feel I should voluntarily reach out to other people because they are very lonely too. A fun thing I loved to do was watch movies with friends via Zoom.” 

Alexander and his peers think often about this particular moment. “Gen Z youth find themselves in a very peculiar time in history at the moment,” he said. “No longer can they commit to the plan they set to achieve. With a world that can be mandated to change in an instant, many factors are out of our control. The new normal that has replaced our old lives has now been fully put into perspective.”