Governor Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly scolded New Yorkers for not practicing social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, but a new map reveals it may be impossible to follow.
The interactive map shows every sidewalk in the Big Apple and its surrounding boroughs.
Users hover over a street of their choice and are shown the width of the sidewalk, along with how difficult it may be to abide by the policy.
However, the average pathway is about 10 feet wide, making it difficult to stay six feet away from a pedestrian travelling in the opposite direction.
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The interactive map shows ever road, avenue and street in the Big Apple and its surrounding boroughs.
‘Six feet apart’ has become a common term in our daily lives since the coronavirus made landfall in the US earlier this year.
There are more than 827,000 cases and over 45,000 deaths in the US
However, New York City has been deemed the ‘epicenter’ and officials have taken extreme measures to limit the spread.
New York currently rshows 251,690 cases and the deathtoll has surpassed 14,000.
Looking at the map designed by Meli Harvey, it seems it is impossible for residents to follow the rules due to the fact that the sidewalks are so narrow. A majority of the streets are just six feet wide themselves and some are less, but the average appears to be 10 feet
There are a few pathways shown in green where adhering to the health recommendation should be possible. And yellow means that it may be too difficult to stay six feet apart from others
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last month that New Yorkers who break social distancing rules could face fines up to $500.
However, looking at a new map designed by Meli Harvey, it seems it is impossible for residents to follow the rules due to the fact that the sidewalks are so narrow.
A majority of the streets are just six feet wide themselves and some are less, but the average appears to be 10 feet.
The map highlights the streets that are not big enough for social distancing in red, while those that are safe to travel on are blue.
There are a few pathways shown in green where adhering to the health recommendation should be possible.
And yellow means that it may be too difficult to stay six feet apart from others.
The narrow sidewalks have been a grip among New Yorkers since state officials rolled out the social distancing policy.
The map highlights the streets that are not big enough for social distancing in red, while those that are safe to travel on are blue
Doug Gordon, a resident in Brooklyn, shared an experiment on Twitter showing just how difficult it is to keep six feet from someone as they pass by on the sidewalk.
‘We are supposed to keep at least six feet between each other when we pass. There are tree pits all the way down one side of my street,’ he shared in the tweet.
‘The available sidewalk space between them and the property line? Only 5 feet.’
This tweet inspired Motherboard to conduct its own study in New York City, which asked residents of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens to measure the sidewalks outside of their apartments.
Approximately 12 of the 17 measured were at least 10 feet wide from the curb to the property line, but had less than six feet of walking space due to fixtures such as tree pits, construction scaffolding, or basement access gates.
Doug Gordon, a resident in Brooklyn, shared an experiment on Twitter showing just how difficult it is to keep six feet from someone as they pass by on the sidewalk
Motherboard also noted that the city’s garbage collection system requires residents to place trash on the sidewalk for extended periods, which results in limited space.
Although it may seem impossible to maintain, social distancing seems to have helped flatten the curve – and officials are asking the public to help keep it that way.
Last week, de Blasio asked New Yorkers to rat out their fellow citizens who are not following social distancing orders during the coronavirus pandemic by taking a photo of the violators on their cell phones and texting it to the city.
‘It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692,’ the mayor tweeted Saturday.
In a video posted to his Twitter account, de Blasio praised the people of his city, saying: ‘You have been extraordinary at social distancing.’
There are more than 827,000 cases and over 45,000 deaths in the US However, New York City has been deemed the ‘epicenter’ and officials have taken extreme measures to limit the spread
‘It has taken every fiber of our beings to figure out how to do this because we’re warm, emotional people,’ he said.
The mayor’s idea was not well-received on social media, where Twitter users blasted him for suggesting that city residents snitch on each other.
One Twitter user noted that Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman were also quarantined.
Tubman was an abolitionist who escaped slavery and then risked her life to help other slaves go free.
Mayor Bill de Blasio asked New Yorkers to rat out their fellow citizens who are not following social distancing orders during the coronavirus and one twitter user noted that both Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman were in hiding and that de Blasio’s proposal likely would have meant outing them
One Twitter user said de Blasio’s proposal ‘is so un-American’
Frank was a Dutch Jewish girl whose family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland.
She was shipped off to the death camps after neighbors alerted the Nazi authorities to their hiding place.
Another Twitter user called the mayor a ‘Karen’ – a popular internet meme used to describe a person, usually a middle-aged white woman, who complains about usually minor things not being to their liking.
Another Twitter user said that de Blasio ‘asking people to snitch’ is ‘so un-American.’
Others commented that de Blasio’s message is more suited to Soviet Communism.
In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, citizens routinely snitched on one another to the authorities in an effort to improve their living conditions and curry favor with the government.
One Twitter user joked: ‘Comrade citizen! Report all suspected anti-distancing activities to friendly New York Ministry of Social Cleanliness!’
