On April 15th, nearly 50 New Yorker writers and photographers fanned out to document life in New York City on a single day. Follow along to relive what was estimated to be the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, in what has become known as its epicenter. http://nyer.cm/j0FTjTT 

Around 6:16 A.M., the sun rose, revealing a day that was ordinary and out of the ordinary at the same time.

Around 6:30 A.M., John Springs, who had tested positive for COVID-19, picked up food in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in Queens where he was self-quarantining. Springs had been released from Rikers Island, where coronavirus infection rates had surged, two weeks prior.

7:12 AM: The photographer Jerome Strauss captured an empty West Side Highway, at rush hour. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ 

At 8:00 A.M., when Derrick Palmer arrived at the Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island for his morning shift, there was a new sign at the entrance. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ 

At 9:55 A.M., El pulled up in front of an apartment building in the East 70s and handed a corporate lawyer some edibles, sativa, and indica for the night; the bill was $600. El’s gross has risen almost 50 per cent. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ 

At 10:13 A.M., in Tribeca, a man arranged floral bouquets with fresh lilacs. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ 

At 10:30 A.M., an employee swept litter from the sidewalk outside a family shelter in the Bronx, now empty as hotels have contracted with the city to provide 16,000 temporary rooms to promote social distancing for those experiencing homelessness. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ 

In late morning, a conservator at @metmuseum checked on the dormant galleries and storerooms and fed the fish in the Astor Chinese Garden Court’s koi pond.

At 11:02 A.M., @SethMeyers logged on to a Zoom call with a half-dozen staffers from @LateNightSeth to discuss a segment for that evening’s show from his attic crawl space—a familiar scene by now to his viewers. http://nyer.cm/GsNCGXJ 

At Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx, the hospital staff played a snippet of “Empire State of Mind,” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys—an audio cue known as the “happy code,” for whenever a COVID-19 patient was taken off a ventilator or was discharged. http://nyer.cm/itMersZ