NY Marathon returns November as 62% vaccinated

Suspended last year due to the pandemic, the New York marathon will take place on November 7, its 50th edition announced, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday, May 17.

The 42-kilometer race that crosses the five boroughs of New York will be held on the same date as each year, the first Sunday in November, with some 33,000 participants instead of 53,000 registered in 2019.

“The NYC marathon – the largest in the world – will return on November 7.  and 33,000 runners will be able to register. Registration opens June 8, “Cuomo tweeted.

More than half of the runners are people who had signed up for the 2020 marathon, suspended due to the pandemic that killed more than 30,000 people in New York City.

Ted Metellus, race director, said that “this will be an unprecedented and historic year” for the iconic marathon. “We are preparing a safe and memorable race for the 50th time; this year’s marathon will show the great strength, inspiration, and determination of the city”.

In June, New York is preparing to launch a major campaign to revive tourism. The marathon, created in 1970, attracts about 250,000 tourists each year and generated an economic impact in 2015 estimated at 415 million dollars.

New York and the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut will lift most of the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic this Wednesday. And the metro in the Big Apple will operate around the clock again, as before the pandemic.

Almost 62% of the New York State population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to official figures.

Cuomo said that New York will adopt the rules of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control that make the use of masks more flexible for vaccinated people.

“If they are vaccinated, they are safe,” Cuomo told a news conference. “No chinstrap, no social distancing.”