米ＮＹでコロナ禍の「英雄」たたえるパレード開催

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ニューヨーク・マンハッタンで７日、新型コロナウイルス流行下でも日々の暮らしに欠かせない業務を継続して都市機能を維持したエッセンシャルワーカーを「英雄」とたたえるパレードが行われた。（写真は米ニューヨーク・マンハッタンで、コロナ禍で都市機能維持に尽力した「地元の英雄たち」をたたえるパレードに参加したエッセンシャルワーカーら）
　医師や看護師、介護士、配達員、公共交通機関の職員やフードバンクのスタッフら数百人のエッセンシャルワーカーたちは、紙吹雪の舞う中、ブロードウェー南端部の「英雄の渓谷」と呼ばれる道のりを楽団と共に行進した。
　先頭のリムジンの後部座席には、昨年１２月半ばに米国で最初に新型コロナウイルスワクチンを接種した看護師のサンドラ・リンゼイさんが座った。「英雄の渓谷」は、１９世紀から国家元首や宇宙飛行士、スポーツ大会優勝者らをたたえる数々のパレードが行われてきた伝統の地。
　集まった人々は「ありがとう」と書かれたプラカードを掲げ、歓声を上げた。
　米国の経済と文化の中心地ニューヨークでは、コロナ禍で３万３０００人もの命が失われた。心に深い傷を負った市民も多い。こうした中、「ビッグアップル」の愛称で親しまれる都市の最も暗い時代の一つを支えた人々に感謝しようと、沿道には大勢の市民が詰めかけた。
　「彼らのような、日々の仕事に従事する知られざる労働者たちが、文字通り私たちの命を救った」と語った女性は、ロックダウン（都市封鎖）中も働き続けたエッセンシャルワーカーの賃金や待遇の改善を訴えるプラカードを手にしていた。「彼ら全員の尽力とワクチンのおかげで、私たちは今ここにいられる。こうして祝うことができる」
　エッセンシャルワーカーたちも、看護師の増員や危険手当の支払い、罰金の撤廃など、それぞれ要求を記したプラカードを掲げて行進した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/07/09-12:58）

With a ticker-tape parade Wednesday, New York honored its everyday heroes who kept the city going through the pandemic and who now hope for recognition that's more than just symbolic.
Hundreds of essential workers marched down the southern stretch of Broadway in Manhattan known as the Canyon of Heroes, where parades honoring astronauts, heads of state and sports champions have occurred since the 19th century.
Leading the way in the back of a limousine was nurse Sandra Lindsay, who became the first person in the United States to receive a vaccine shot against Covid-19 in mid-December.
Between marching bands and under confetti, groups of doctors, caregivers, delivery men, public transport workers and food bank employees and others marched as onlookers cheered and held placards that read Thank you.
In the crowd, Brooklyn resident Sara Cavolo relished the celebration, which comes as New York emerges from the pandemic following an aggressive vaccination drive that saw all restrictions lifted recently.
It's a trauma we've all kind of gone through, said the 38-year-old, who works in marketing.
It really hits home the fact that now we're coming back out of this and reemerging, we've made it. It feels just very good to celebrate, she told AFP.
America's economic and cultural capital paid a heavy price in the pandemic, losing 33,000 residents.
Cavolo, who lives near a hospital, still remembers the trucks that were mobile morgues in spring 2020, when New York was the epicenter of the country's outbreak.
It was very heavy for a lot of us, she recalled.
Many residents of a city still traumatized turned out to show their gratitude to those that kept the Big Apple running through one of its darkest times.
These unrecognized every days workers literally saved our lives, said Melinda Mlinac, holding a sign calling for better wages and benefits for those who kept working during the lockdowns.
It's a very happy moment, because from all of their efforts and the vaccine, we're here, we're here to celebrate this.
But never forget these people that took the subways when it was dangerous, all the pre-vax work that these people did for us.
Food delivery (companies), Amazon, these companies have to recognize that and have to give them benefits, she implored.
Inside the barriers, the marchers carried placards bearing their demands.
More nurses = better care, read that of caregivers, Stop the Fines said those carried by street food vendors, while subway workers called for risk pay.
All legitimate claims, according to doctor Yomaris Pena.
They are the true heroes,she said.
Some of them couldn't say no to go to work, like bus drivers, the people that were driving the subways, the people who were cleaning the hospitals, the grocery workers. We don't think about them.
It's the beginning of acknowledging and rewarding what they have done, she said.