New Yorkers meet in Times Square to say 'Good Riddance' to COVID-19,
Zoom calls
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[January 04, 2021]
By Daniel Fastenberg
NEW YORK (Reuters) - About a dozen people
lined up on Monday to shred things they want to forget about 2020,
including but not limited to the deadly global pandemic that swept the
world, at the annual "Good Riddance Day" event in New York City's Times
Square.
Among the submissions were COVID-19 and some of the grimmer aspects of
new social distancing norms and work-from-home customs compelled by the
spread of the coronavirus, not least Zoom video conferencing calls.
The Times Square Alliance, which promotes local businesses, has
organized the event since 2007 near where the ball drops on New Year's
Eve in the closing moments of Dec. 31. Participants are encouraged to
write down the year's unpleasant memories, to be thrown into an
oversized paper shredder.
Others posed for pictures next to a "Move On 2020!" sign.
"I think of all the New Year's Eves I've ever experienced, this New
Year's Eve is special," said Jonathan Bennett, who hosted this year's
scaled-down event. "The whole world really needs this new year to come
in."
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![](../images/010421pics/news_k15.jpg)
A person shreds a document containing something that they are
looking forward to saying goodbye to in the year 2020 at an event in
Times Square called Good Riddance Day amid the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New
York, U.S., December 28, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Joey Faix, a 16-year-old high-school student who stopped to watch
the event, said it was a tough year.
"I think it was mentally straining for everybody," he said. "But I
think everybody is optimistic for the new year."
(Reporting by Daniel Fastenberg in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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