As December ushers in the continuation of the holiday shopping season, uncertainty continues to grow in the brick-and-mortar world of retail amid an economically crippling pandemic, leaving many to wonder what the e-commerce success rate of this year’s Black Friday could mean for its future.

For years, the holiday shopping season has revolved around the Black Friday event, and Black Friday has been regarded as America’s busiest shopping day of the year. With retailers across the country offering highly discounted prices, it is little wonder that millions of Americans queued up in long lines at their favorite stores so that they could purchase items at low prices.

This year, many retailers began to advertise those deals as early as October and offered many of them online, reflecting both the challenges that physical stores are facing and the sudden shift in how consumers prefer to shop.

Amid a harrowing pandemic that left many financially and physically disenfranchised, Black Friday looked different for both American retailers and consumers. For one thing, the long queues and crowded stores that once characterized the shopping event were replaced by online shopping. Furthermore, this year’s online Black Friday shopping was the second-largest online spending day in U.S. history, coming in behind 2019’s Cyber Monday. This surge can be credited to the pandemic’s impact as American shoppers chose to skip crowded stores and malls to shop instead from the comfort of their homes.

Data obtained from Sensormatic Solutions revealed that in-store traffic on Black Friday fell by about 52.1% compared to last year’s in-store shopping traffic. In other data obtained from Adobe, consumers spent roughly $9 billion shopping online this year, which shows that millions of American shoppers were still willing to shop despite the pandemic’s blow to the country’s economy.

Sheryl Thomas, a photographer from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said her Black Friday was different this year compared to others before it.

“I chose to do my Christmas shopping online this Black Friday because with everything that has been going on, you just never know,” said Thomas. “It was less stressful to be able to shop online this year, and I don’t believe that I missed out on much of the fun because I read and saw in the news that people who shopped in stores this year were very scarce.”

The coronavirus instilled in many American shoppers a heightened sense of discomfort and anxiety about going into stores. Most retail chains across the country who predicted the outcome promptly moved their doorbuster deals online to allow people to shop more safely. Even the Center for Disease Control and Prevention urged consumers to shop online, use curbside pickup, and favor open-air shopping centers over enclosed shopping areas.

Almeffa Vengerko, a store manager at Nordstrom in Chicago, Illinois, said that although the company had strategically placed many of its deals online, store-traffic was low and the shoppers who did stop by were there to pick up the items that they had purchased online.

“There were a lot of people shopping on our online platform and then stopping by to pick their items either in-store or through our curbside pick up service,” said Vengerko. “Another part of our strategy for Black Friday was to price-match a lot of the items because with the pandemic going on, no one knew what to expect.”

According to a preliminary survey conducted by Sensormatic Solutions in October, the forecast revealed that retail stores’ traffic would be down by 22% to 25% during the critical weeks of the holiday shopping season, and its estimation was accurate due to the amount of traffic that stores received on Black Friday.

Robin Sanchez, a Macy’s store manager in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said that to meet up with sales numbers and expectations, Macy’s and many other stores like it had to start their Black Friday promos earlier than usual.

“Nationwide with retail, this year was very different because many retailers started offering their deals way earlier than usual,” said Sanchez. “I’d say we started marketing and promoting our Black Friday sales weeks before the actual day, and I think it went a long way in terms of being an effective strategy.”

Sanchez also said that although executing this strategy meant that there were no lines at the door on the day of  Black Friday itself, the store still managed to churn a profit.

“There were no long lines through the store and around the building this year because people didn’t feel the same sense of urgency that they have felt in previous years, and that is partly due to the pandemic, but as a store, we did not do too badly,” said Sanchez.

Although Black Friday this year was an online success for many large stores and for e-commerce in general, some people still have their reservations about the durability of retail businesses moving forward. .

Andy Wu, an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School, has a lot to say about where the busiest shopping day of the year is headed in the near future.

As we look to the future, consumer demand for goods will look a lot different, making inventory planning more complex than what it was before. Recently, many companies have had to gauge in real-time what people are spending their money on and the frequency at which they are spending it.

Wu also said that in the months following Black Friday, a dwindling in sales  could have a negative effect at brick and mortar stores, especially for smaller retailers. 

“Keep in mind that the smaller retailers are the ones that we generally think of as being more brick and mortar locations,” said Wu. “There’s obviously another category of smaller retailers that are purely e-commerce retailers. That is a different story. I think there’s evidence that perhaps those businesses are doing reasonably well, but it’s hard to say right now.”

Nationwide, retailers have experienced an abrupt split in fortunes during the pandemic. The extensive shutdowns that happened earlier this spring triggered big-brand bankruptcies and many other store closures. Strong e-commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart have only gotten stronger, exceedingly competent and more profitable because of their ability to rapidly provide the necessities that people need while stuck at home.

According to data gathered by the National Retail Federation, about 59% of shoppers commenced their holiday shopping by early November, and most of that shopping occurred online. This year, early signs of the surplus in digital sales were caught by Adobe Analytics, which scans through about 80 %t of online transactions across the top 100 U.S. online retailers. The data reflected that consumers spent upwards of around $5.1 billion online this past Thanksgiving  Day, compared to the $4.2 billion dollars that were spent around the shopping holiday season last year. 

Looking back on Black Friday’s profit trend this year, it is economically notable that many Americans, on the whole, spent more than they did this year than they did last year, despite the loss of over 22 million jobs nationwide  and the effect that it had on many American households as a whole. Because of the pandemic, the retail industry has rapidly adjusted to meet the heavy consumer demands that American shoppers have, especially this holiday season, thereby abruptly converting traditional department stores into fulfillment centers, building new warehouses, hiring thousands of workers to fill e-commerce roles, and extending or adding curbside pickup service which was a successful trend this Black Friday.

Forces driving online shopping forward were set in full motion a long time before the pandemic progressed and continued to expand. Either way, gauging the decline of many brick-and-mortar retail stores in comparison to the simultaneous growth of e-commerce shopping in the past eight months is like watching the retail sector’s evolution move in fast forward. In the near future, the end of 2020 and then the beginning and progression of 2021 will be seen as a significant turning point for the retail sector.

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According to Federal agents, the planned attack included comprehensive plans to overthrow several state governments that the arrested suspects believe were defiling the US Constitution. One of those states is Michigan, which is under Whitmer’s governance.

So far, six of the men were federally charged with conspiracy to kidnap. Seven others  associated with the militia group “Wolverine Watchmen,” were charged by the state, according to Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel.

According to reports obtained from the United States Department of Justice, a complaint was filed on Tuesday. Reports show that the individuals by the names Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta conspired to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home which is located in the Western District of Michigan. Per federal law, each of the individuals faces any term of years up to life in prison if convicted of the crime. Fox, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta are all residents of Michigan while Croft is a resident of Delaware.

It is unclear whether or not their motives was in direct retaliation to Whitmer’s executive orders concerning the pandemic, but the story is still developing.

Early in March, Whitmer, a Democrat, extended a state of emergency along with other safety measures in the state of Michigan in efforts to contain the novel coronavirus and has since been the subject of ridicule among right-wing voters.

In Oakland county, Richard Beaubien, a resident of Troy, Michigan, said that the governor was “out of bounds” in extending stay-at-home orders to Michigan residents.

“She’s supposed to talk to the legislature before she executes some orders, and she is still reluctant to do that,” said Beaubien. 

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in a split 4-3 finding that Whitmer lacked COVID-19 emergency powers to extend the executive order that she mandated Michiganders without consent from the legislature.

The court’s decision placed a significant question mark on the previous orders that Whitmer had executed in. relation to the pandemic, appearing to blank them out. At the same time, it wasn’t immediately clear what would happen next or when the supreme court’s decision would go into effect.

In response to the Michigan Supreme Court, Whitmer’s office issued a statement publicly denouncing the ruling and seeking an additional 28-day grace period to transition into the new regulations.

She described the court’s ruling as “deeply disappointing” and stressed that she disagreed with it.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling, handed down by a narrow majority of Republican justices, is deeply disappointing, and I vehemently disagree with the court’s interpretation of the Michigan Constitution,” said Whitmer. “Right now, every state and the federal government has some form of declared emergency. With this decision, Michigan will become the sole outlier at a time when the Upper Peninsula is experiencing rates of COVID infection not seen in our state since April.” 

The statement ended with Whitmer promising Michiganders that she would not relent in her efforts to keep them safe from the deadly virus. Many Twitter users, including President Donald Trump, took to Twitter to express their thoughts on the news.

Trump, who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 himself, praised the supreme court’s ruling and called the verdict a “BIG WIN” for Michiganders in his tweet.

His tweets were made even though Michigan went from being one of the top three coronavirus hotspots in the nation to flattening the curve under Whitmer’s executive orders. Real-time data currently shows that the current death rates and cases have skyrocketed in Michigan ever since. 

On March 23, when Whitmer first set her Stay Home, Stay Safe mandate in motion, thousands of Michiganders grew weary of the orders. Complaints ranged from individuals needing haircuts to barbers and salon owners defying orders to stay open.

Beaubien said that a haircut was one necessity that the orders deprived him.

“My hair got really long. I was trying to debate what color of ribbon to put on. I finally got a hair cut in mid-April after about three  months,”  said Beaubien.

Susan Maccoy, a hair stylist, author, and certified COVID-19 protocols expert for hair salons, said that Whitmer did the right thing.

“You can’t fix stupid,” said Maccoy of naysayers. “She was protecting the people when they wouldn’t protect themselves.”

Maccoy, who is also a salon and beauty expert, said that during the unprecedented COVID-19 times, it is imperative to have all of the protocols in place to protect the salon owners, as well as hairdressers and customers.

” Ninety percent of the cases that I opine on focus on people who didn’t follow the rules and ultimately bore the consequences,” said Maccoy.

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“Is it terrible that I felt a little happy? I mean, I know that’s not a very nice thing to say, but given how belligerent Trump has been about downplaying the seriousness of Covid-19, I feel like this is divine irony,” Sara Ahmed, of Houston, Texas said. “ If it were anyone else, I would be hopeful that this experience would change the way he governs during the pandemic, but knowing Trump’s record, I can’t be optimistic that he will learn anything from it.” 

In Portland, Oregon, Victoria Alexandra, a Trump supporter, disagreed and said that she only wishes that the president takes the time to rest while he quarantines for 14 days. 

“I believe this will be a time of mental clarity and insight for Trump in the midst of mocking, finger pointing, and torment,” Alexandra said. “ This is not the time to come under fear, but to be positioned, sober-minded and ready to watch and see how God will reveal himself to America. Join me as we pray for our president’s wellbeing.” 

Hours before Trump annuonced his diagnosis, he traveled to a fundraiser he held at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Elizabeth Meyer, a Democrat, said she and her daughters watched Marine One, the helicopter that carries the president fly over her  house in Branchburg, New Jersey en route to Bedminster. This morning, she said , that event took on a different perspective for her. 

“Learning that the president knew he was exposed, and yet, was flying to a fundraiser, consciously putting his supporters, staff and reporters at risk is indicative of his apathy, placement of profit over people and his intentional ignorance towards COVID-19,” Meyer said. “This is another distressing twist in the run up to an already tumultuous and unprecedented election day.”  

According to The New York Times, Trump has repeatedly downplayed the risk of the virus and behaved in ways that public health experts have said risked spreading the virus. He has refused to wear a mask in public and questioned its effectiveness. He has held crowded rallies where attendees did not wear masks. 

Initially, Democratic Mayor Mohamed Khairullah of Prospect Park, New Jersey  said he didn’t believe that President Trump contracted COVID. It was only after he went to his twitter account  that he was able to confirm it was true. 

“In my opinion, the president has never taken the virus seriously,” Khairullah said. “ He thought he was immune to the virus since he was constantly accompanied by staff that made sure his surroundings were safe and sanitary.”  

Dylan Ward, a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, fears that the country will  go into chaos if Trump dies. 

“We are already divided as a nation at this time,” Ward said. “The passing of Trump will only widen it and lead to civil unrest.” 

Eight out of every 10 deaths attributed to the virus in the United States have been among those   65 and older. This puts President Trump, who is 74, at a high risk.

Khairullah hopes that President Trump will now set a better example for fellow Americans who haven’t done so yet, to take the virus more seriously.

“I urge everyone to be careful and follow proper precautions to slow the spread of the virus,” Khairullah said.“If you feel that the virus won’t harm you, think about a loved one that you might transmit the virus to–that you might lose– if they catch the invisible enemy.” 

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“There is a race between companies in the United States and between countries to have a vaccine ready,” said Anna Williams, a graduate of Rutgers University-Newark and community organizer. “It is sad to see the level of mistrust Americans have in their government.” 

Williams claims that the reason why President Trump is rushing the process of  a vaccine by election day is for him to take credit for it. If he can speed up the vaccine before the election, then it’s a political win. And she won’t take it.

“I do not trust his medical scientific background that he does not have,” she said. “He has shown us time-and-time-again that he doesn’t take science and facts to the degree he needs to. I would rather listen to scientists, epidemiologists and those who are working on a vaccine. They are the main voices and sometimes there is too much focus given to what Trump thinks and says.”

When choosing whether to take a vaccine or not, Zahra Hussein, a junior at Rutgers-Newark, believes that it is ultimately up to us to decide–not Trump or the FDA.  

“As long as I do my research and I feel confident with the results I come up with, I see no harm in taking the vaccine, it is a risk worth pursuing,”Hussein negated. “It is clear who is in the lead of the presidential race–the virus.” 

 According to a recent poll by National Public Radio, just 49% of Americans now say they will get vaccinated when one is made available; 44% say they won’t.

As a trilingual contact tracer for the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness, Desiree Roquetti believes that the possibility of having an effective vaccine soon is highly unlikely due to the various trials it must undergo. 

“The release of a vaccine on or before election day will not be safe to the public” Roquetti said. “The fact of the matter is, a vaccine will not be available until late 2021.” 

A vaccine’s success only depends on a phase 3 trial since it can establish whether a vaccine is safe and effective enough to be approved for widespread use. 

Eman Odeh, a senior at Rutgers-Newark thinks Trump is making a terrible mistake. His  insistence on a vaccine is his attempt to establish trust with the American people and earn their vote by election day. She says the outcome can go either way. 

“It is a very strategic step on Trump’s part,” Odeh said. “If he does come through with one, you will likely see more people who were not planning on voting for him–or not voting at all for that matter– to cast their vote for Trump.” 

What would be a game changer for Odeh is if the FDA approves a vaccine before election day. 

“It makes a big difference for me if the FDA comes forward with a vaccine, I would take it,” says Odeh. “If it was Trump on the other hand, I cannot, in good faith, take chances with my health.” 

The recent unfolding of events has Odeh not hopeful of the path the United States is headed down.

“I don’t see much reform, I don’t see much improvement in many sectors of the country, like there used to be,” said Odeh. “ Right now, if we want change, it needs to be radical.”

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“This is quintessential Trump,” said Kelly Conklin, a Data Engineering Manager based in Brooklyn. “He is here to protect himself and protect himself only.”

Since the onset of the pandemic, Trump has downplayed the severity of the virus and made contradictory claims against public health officials guidelines. Since the outbreak, virus deaths have surpassed 200,000 . 

Robert Hitchner, a moderate from Pennsylvania, said he believes Trump is holding indoor rallies likely at the request of his supporters and because we’re on the cusp of the presidential election. And while he believes indoor rallies are a bad idea, he doesn’t think we’re focusing our attention in the right place. 

“Are the protests that have sprung up around this country a good thing? No,” said Hitchner. “Somehow, the people who are protesting are accepted and admired. They are gathering in large groups, rioting, burning buildings, they’re destroying small businesses. And we’re worried about Trump getting together for a rally? I think we’re worried about the wrong things.”

Hitchner said he wasn’t shocked to hear Trump knew the virus was deadly because he felt it was obvious. He stocked up on groceries back in February when the numbers spiked in Italy. 

“I don’t think he was holding a great secret,” Hitchner said. “When he heard about it from China, Trump shut down travel to the country. And you don’t want to panic everyone, right? But you do want to take steps and try to make the right decisions. It’s a difficult situation.”

Dan Shorts, Director of Government Affairs for the National Confectioners Association, acknowledged how troubling Trump’s comments are as quoted in Woodward’s book, but questioned the amount of information available at the time Trump made his comments to Woodward.

 “They don’t make it completely clear how much the President knew about the virus in February,
said Shorts. “I think it’s premature to say there was enough information available at that time to President Trump (or anyone) to know precisely how deadly the virus was, let alone all of the drastic and sweeping measures necessary to combat the virus.” 

But Jaqueline Carey, a published novelist and self identified social media warrior of the Montclair Democrats, holds only disdain for Trump’s indoor rallies.

“I found it disgusting that Trump continued to hold indoor rallies when he was aware that COVID-19 was easily transmitted through the air,” said Carey. “I don’t find it surprising. Trump is a bundle of nerve ends, impulses, demons, and neediness.”

Carey said Trump rallies are driven by his ego.

“I suspect that rallies are the only time when Trump has felt alive through his whole political experience,” Carey said. “He wouldn’t make a distinction between indoor and outdoor. He wouldn’t care if all the attendees died. He has no sense that other people are real.”

Trump is widely known to hold a bold and fiery campaign style, one of which has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shorts said his decision to hold indoor rallies could be an act of defiance against his critics. 

“I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that he replaced his campaign manager after turnout was less than expected at his last indoor rally in June, in Tulsa, Oklahoma,” Shorts said. “I think returning to the indoor format is an attempt to portray a resurgence in enthusiasm from his supporters that the optics of his Tulsa rally failed to translate.”

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Studying remotely from Beijing was the best option for Weichen Du, academically problematic as it could be. The Australian border restriction did not allow Weichen to travel to the country, and Weichen could not find a job due to the pandemic.  Travel possibilities were also limited.

Weichen Du was attends a Zoom tutorial held by the University of Melbourne from his home in Beijing, China. Photo by Xinhui Ying

“I think the quality of teaching, and also the class, has significantly dropped down,” Du, a first-year master’s student in Marketing Communications at the University of Melbourne said.  “It is harder to understand what the professor wants on each assignment.”

At the same time, Weichen felt depressed and isolated from the rest of the class. He believed that everyone in his program felt the same way. The physical distance made him feel less close to professors and discouraged him from reaching out.

 “I tried everything to keep me busy… but my mental health still got worse because of the social distancing,” Weichen said. “I realized that interaction between people was so important for our being.You need to interact with people to keep everything moving.”

Siyi Xie, a sophomore studying Business Administration and Management at the University of Toronto, decided to do the entire academic year remotely from Vancouver. She revealed that the online learning experience was very inconvenient because of the time difference and the fact that students were not used to the instruction mode. However, she believed it would be better over time.

“My biggest fear is about how they would deliver the exams, ” Xie said. “Because people who do courses online have the opportunity to cheat. Therefore, the test they give these people will be harder than those who do the in-person exams. I am afraid of being graded unfairly because I don’t cheat although I take classes online.”

Siyi Xie takes handwriting notes at home in Vancouver, Canada for a University of Toronto course. Photo by Siyi Xie

Xie was also concerned about the safety of living on campus, and that was one of the major reasons she decided not to return to class in-person.

“Just live in close proximity to other people who you don’t know and cannot trust fully, I feel that’s a bit dangerous,” she said.

In terms of social life outside of academics, COVID-19 has made it harder for Xie to hang out with people. Most restaurants in Vancouver were closed for dine-in options. When she interacted with people online, she had to wait for responses.  Also, the tone and meaning behind the words were a bit hazier, as she could not hear or see her friends.

“If it’s just a normal school year, it will be so easy to go to class in person and actually make a few friends,” Siyi said. “So you can swap notes maybe and become study buddies. But right now, because of COVID-19 and because of online delivery, it’s hard to actually just text someone and become close with them.”

Tiankuo Jiang is a freshman in a middle school in Nanjing, China. He started his first day of class on Sept.1.

“I think except the dining, all things are just normal,” Jiang said.  “We just can’t eat together. Every student has one corner of the table, and then you put a cross-shaped plastic between students to make them separate.”

The teachers did not tell students to wear masks, but most students did. In addition, students were not required to keep a 2-meter distance.  But Jiang does not feel stressed about contracting the virus.

“I think it’s just okay, because we had very great protection before and now we don’t have many cases,” Jiang said.

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 The report, published by the global environmental research organization Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), finds that China’s CO2 emissions surged back to a pre-lockdown level in May as power plants and factories reopened in the country. Emissions of health-harming pollutants such as PM2.5, NO2, and SO2 rose by 4% to 5% year-over-year, signaling an unwanted “dirty” recovery that might ruin the country’s efforts to go green over the past few years, the researchers say.

“All eyes are on China, as the first major economy to return to work after a lockdown,” the report said. “It’s obvious that once the economy starts to recover and production and transport to resume, much of the air pollution would return.”

 The study suggests that Chinese provinces that rely heavily on industrial productions are driving the increase, such as the coal-intensive Shanxi in central China and the chemical plants-filled Heilongjiang in the northeast. Meanwhile, air pollution was less severe in megacities like Beijing and Shanghai, which rely mostly on the service sector. 

 Lauri Myllyvirta, senior analyst covering China’s air quality and energy trends at CREA, suggests that the extent to which air pollution will rebound depends on the sources of pollution in different countries. China, for example, is dominated by industrial pollutants from its manufacturing sector, while most European countries are more concerned about carbon emissions produced by cars and other private transportations. Either way, “high-polluting industries have been fastest to recover from the crisis, whereas the service sector is left behind. [That’s why] the pollution has rebounded faster than the economy,” Myllyvirta said during an interview.

 From early February to mid-March, China’s strict lockdown measures caused the air pollution level to plummet by 25%, according to CREA’s analysis of the latest government data. And China is not alone. An article published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change shows that by early April, daily global carbon emissions dropped by 17% year over year, of which China and the United States were the biggest contributors.

 Prior to the pandemic, the Chinese government had laid out ambitious plans to cut pollution and ease the climate crisis, such as decreasing its energy consumption by 15% before 2020. Yet as the pandemic took its toll, the country chose to prioritize its economic recovery over meeting those targets. In late May, China’s Premier Li Keqiang scrapped a key measurement on energy consumption, speaking only vaguely about “a further drop in energy consumption per unit of GDP” while he was expected to set a clear percentage decrease.

 The resurgence in air pollution in China after COVID-19 reminds Myllyvirta of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for which China shut down factories within 300 miles of the capital but reopened shortly after the games. “I remember the extremely blue sky in Beijing during the Olympics,” Myllyvirta said. “But after that, the pollution comes back. It comes back even worse in the following years.”

Other countries are expected to follow suit. In Europe, where public transportation is being discouraged for the sake of social distancing, “congestion levels and private cars emissions are roughly back to the pre-COVID level even though people are moving around less.” In India, “even the recovery is slow, there is still a risk of pollution coming back next winter because winter is the pollution season.”

Some environmental experts hold a more positive view about the post-COVID outlook on climate change. Jochen Markard, researcher at the Group of Sustainability and Technology in Zurich, and Daniel Rosenbloom, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of political science at University of Toronto, co-wrote in the May issue of Science Magazine that “COVID-19 recovery presents a strategic opportunity to transition toward a more sustainable world” if governments around the world implement greener COVID recovery plans, such as shutting down carbon-intensive companies and encouraging remote working. 

A 48-page report published by the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment also refers to fiscal recovery packages as the “biggest driver of the long-term impact on climate.” After surveying 231 key policymakers around the world, the report finds that there are multiple ways to meet both economic and climate goals, such as encouraging clean physical infrastructure investment, building efficiency retrofits, investing in education and training to address structural unemployment from decarbonization, etc.

Myllyvirta agrees that the solution lies in increasing the capacity of public transportation and supporting cleaner businesses rather than energy-intensive projects. Otherwise, the rebound “could cause strong reactions after the extremely pronounced clean air in the first half of this year.”

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 The agency that oversees the nation’s student and exchange visitor program, announced that international students must take at least one in-person class in the fall to maintain their visa status, or they will have to leave the U.S. 

 In a hotel room in Shenyang, a city 2,800 miles away from her hometown Shenzhen, Fang, a student of New York University, said she was being thrown a curveball again. After NYU announced in June their plan to operate in a hybrid model in the fall, with an in-person and Zoom option, she decided to go back to China and attend classes remotely. But the new rule now requires her to show up in the  classroom so she won’t lose her student visa. 

“I have no idea what I should do in the next step,” Fang said. “ I have to make a new plan to complete my degree.”  

Chinese students like Fang, may become the biggest casualties of the latest ICE regulation on international students. For the tenth consecutive year, China remained the largest source of international students in the US, making up 33.7% of all foreign students in 2019, according to a report by the Institute of International Education. These students, whether they have returned home or stayed in the U.S., are scrambling to maintain their visa status which has faced more scrutiny under the Trump administration since the pandemic began.  

Former Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have both voiced their opposition to the policy on Twitter. Elizabeth Warren urged the ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to “drop this policy immediately” and called the move “senseless, cruel and xenophobic.” 

Kicking international students out of the US during a global pandemic because their colleges are moving classes online for physical distancing hurts students. It’s senseless, cruel, and xenophobic. @ICEgov and @DHSgov must drop this policy immediately. https://t.co/MHYduGA1Pk

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 7, 2020

 Sanders also used the word “cruelty” to describe the disturbing policy. “Foreign students are being threatened with a choice: risk your life going to class in-person or get deported,” he said.  

The cruelty of this White House knows no bounds. Foreign students are being threatened with a choice: risk your life going to class in-person or get deported.

We must stand up to Trump’s bigotry. We must keep all our students safe. https://t.co/Q2MvmgJPqV

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 6, 2020

If a university adopts the hybrid model, foreign students have to take “the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree program,” and have to be back in the states to participate in the in-person classes. 

 For many schools that offered the in-person option for smaller scale seminar classes, like NYU and Columbia University, classroom presence is optional. Local students can opt to stay at home and participate via Zoom. Yet international students, per this policy, will not have the same privilege. 

 “Is it worth risking my health to travel back and attend the classes?” Fang asked. 

 After many states reopened, the confirmed cases across the U.S  soared. On July 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 54,357 new cases, a record single day jump.

University campuses are particularly vulnerable to such a highly contagious disease. Washington University reported that at least 112 fraternity residents have tested positive for Covid-19 on June 30.

Even if they are willing to risk their health to attend in-person classes, the students that are already home face travel restrictions. On January 31, President Trump banned foreigners that had stayed in China in the past 14 days to enter the U.S. Five months  later with Covid-19 decreasing in most regions of China, the travel restriction is still active. 

 This travel ban is essentially in conflict with the ICE regulation that mandates international students to return to the U.S. to attend in person classes. 

 Another NYU graduate student from China, Taylor Xu, who studies biostatistics, chose to stay because her “visa is going to expire.”

Given the indefinite suspension of U.S. consulates in China and the sensitive nature of her major, she said “it wouldn’t be easy to get a new visa.” 

 On May 29, President Trump signed an executive order to ban certain groups of Chinese graduate students from entering the country, accusing them of “acquir[ing] sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property, in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military, the People’s Liberation Army.”

 Now, Xu faced the chance of being deported as her program will operate remotely.

“It’s mentally stressful and disheartening that the country I’ve lived in for six years may kick me out,” Xu said. “The fact that I can’t find a reasonably priced ticket home also makes the situation more challenging.”

 To stop coronavirus cases from entering China, Beijing has drastically cut the number of international flights to “one route to any specific country with no more than one flight per week” since March. Although it eased airline access after President Trump threatened to ban inbound flights from China, allowing Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to operate four weekly flights in total, the seats available still fell short of demand. 

While international students are rattled, universities across the country have been advocating strongly against the policy. Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration.  In an email to the students, Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, which has the fourth-largest international student population in the U.S., wrote “the destructive and indefensible purpose driving these policies is by now all too familiar.” 

 Universities are also in the process of transitioning to hybrid models to save international students’ visas. But the growing number of new cases  and the chance of a second wave hitting in the fall could easily force universities to close again. 

 “If a second wave hits this fall and my school moves to online classes again, what would  I do?” Fang asked.  

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Employees at Brookyn’s New Lab could choose to wear a “proximity sensor” that buzzes whenever other colleagues get closer than 6 feet. Wearing a sensor is optional. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

Brooklyn’s New Lab employees can wear a proximity sensor, which is locked into a chest harness. It gives out a vibration feedback if participants get too close to each other. This could be escalated to auditory alerts if two people are walking within six feet of each other. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

At the front desk of New Lab in Brooklyn, the proximity sensors are separated into “clean” and “used”. Movement data is collected and analyzed by the company for future prevention. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

At New Lab in Brooklyn, face covering is required in common areas. Signs are set up for keeping people bearing “social distancing” in mind. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

New Lab, the Brooklyn-based tech hub also changes its bathroom capacity by only allowing three people entering at one time. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

Foodcellar, a local grocery store at Long Island City, requires cloth face coverings or masks for entry. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

Hygiene stations are set up in the common area at an apartment building called “Watermark” in Long Island City. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

A person sanitizes their hands at the hygiene station at the Watermark building in Long Island City. July 7. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

Long Island City’s Watermark apartment building posts social distancing guidelines. Photo by Joanna Lin Su

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But gone are the exuberant tour ticket vendors persuading visitors to buy a double decker bus tour. Those jobs were lost as tourism is virtually non-existent. For the past seven years, Ademuyiwa Onitiri worked with TopView sightseeing tours selling tickets for their double decker sightseeing bus before the lockdown. 

‘‘There was one day I drove past Manhattan and I felt like oh my God, I miss Times Square,’’ said Onitiri.

 His last day in Times Square was in March, shortly after everything was shut down as coronavirus cases rose.

‘‘It’s not mostly about missing Times Square, but the income…as well, he said. “ I miss the activities .I miss the side attraction, the performances.”

Olayinka Oloruntimilehin is a colleague of Onitiri who also worked with TopView . She has been selling tour tickets since 2018 and laments that it’s a ‘different world for them’.

‘‘I had colleagues that applied for unemployment on the 17th (March) as soon as they put it on the (notice) board, no work no work,” she said.”  I thought it was going to be like the president was saying, ‘it’s a flu, it’s going to vanish.’ I believed that and then two weeks, one month, two months, three  months ( passed).’’

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Onitiri said he spoke to an average of 100 people daily.

“We are independent contractors,’’ he said. “Independent contractors meaning that we work on our own time and we are just paid commission on the sales that we made.’’

His average was selling about 20 tickets a day, he said. A 48-hour hop on and off pass cost  $89.

But with no tourists in sight, these two ticket vendors, both of Nigerian origin, have been out a job.

‘So basically, I have been looking for something else to do, like another job,’’ said Oloruntimilehin.

Onitiri said he had to apply for unemployment to make ends meet.

‘‘It’s just not very easy, especially when the bills are not going to wait, they keep coming,” he said.” I have been living on savings and even it’s depleted to almost  zero. So, seeking government assistance for now, which I have never done before, because I like to earn my living.’’

Top View will resume on July 20 and  is slashing prices up to 75%.

However, it’s unclear if there will be tourists by then with international flights still restricted and a 14- day mandatory quarantine in place for persons travelling to New York from other states with high corona infection rates.

In his briefing on Monday,  Gov. Andrew Cuomo said they have had new infection cases coming from other states. 

‘‘We are already seeing it,” he said. “We have had significant clusters with people if people came out of state. They came in, they attended a function, bang! The next day we have an increase in the infections. We’re doing so many testing and so many tracing that we can trace it back to patient zero and they are very often from out of state.’’

The tour ticket vendors believe people will be scared to come to the city.

‘‘Everybody hears about New York City and they are very afraid to come to the city because it was  the epicenter of the Covid-19,” Ontiri said. “So because of that people are scared to come.”

He said he has friends from other states who are wary of coming to the city.

‘‘ I have some folks, some friends that are living in other states had hitherto the ambition to come to the city to have fun,” he said.  “But right now everybody cancelled it and I’m sure it would be like that for some other people too. So, it’s not going to be business as usual for now.’’

 In 2019, 66.6 million visitors traveled to New York City for business and leisure trips according to NYC & Company’s annual report.   Eighty percent were domestic tourists while international visitors made up 20%.  They generated close to $70 billion in revenue. 

Oloruntimilehin said it will be impossible for an out of state visitor to manage the lengthy quarantine required in same cases and still have vacation time left  to enjoy the city’s available attractions.

“For me the basic things we do as ticket sellers we won’t be able to do it,’’ said Oloruntimilehin.

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