Stark Photos Show Iconic NYC Locations at Start of Pandemic — and 2 Years Later

A look at where we were two years ago shows just how far we've come -- and how different the "new normal" may be from the old

Published March 18, 2022 • Updated on March 18, 2022 at 3:13 pm

NBC Universal, Inc.

New York City just marked two full years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented crisis that fundamentally shifted people's way of life. And it was one that claimed the lives of some 40,000-plus city residents as two boroughs emerged as the deadliest counties in America during the peak of the virus battle.

Now, life is returning to some new semblance of normal. Stark photos show how just abnormal it had become. See "then and now" photos of iconic New York City locations, from Times Square to the Oculus, Grand Central, Wall Street and more.

Fulton Center Station: 3/16/2020 vs 3/16/2022

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Times Square: 3/22/2020 vs 3/11/2022

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Wall Street: 3/24/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK CITY, - MARCH 24: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1215768370) Wall Street stands empty as people stay away from the area due to the coronavirus on March 24, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375608) People walk by the New York Stock Exchange on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Brookfield Place Mall, Lower Manhattan: 3/29/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK CITY, NY - MARCH 29: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1215548724) A person walks through an empty Brookfield Place mall in lower Manhattan on March 29, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375568) People sit in a public area in the Brookfield Place Mall on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

42nd Street: 3/22/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 22: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1214099905) Forty Second Street stands mostly empty as much of the city is void of cars and pedestrians over fears of spreading the coronavirus on March 22, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384376785) Traffic moves along 42nd Street on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Grand Central Terminal: 3/22/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 22: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1214100046) Grand Central Terminal stands mostly empty as much of the city is void of cars and pedestrians over fears of spreading the coronavirus on March 22, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375656) People walk through Grand Central Terminal on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

G Train: 4/13/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 13: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1218625898) A person rides a G subway train during the Coronavirus outbreak on April 13, 2020 in New York City. Ridership on subways and buses in Manhattan, the nation's largest public transportation system, is down dramatically as people stay home from work or find other ways of getting around the city. The virus has so far taken the lives of 41 employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) which runs the city's buses and subway system. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375538) People ride on a MTA subway F train on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Gerard Neufeld Funeral Home, Queens: 4/22/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 22: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1220438971) Omar Rodriguez organizes bodies in the Gerard Neufeld funeral home on April 22, 2020 in the Elmhurst neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. The decades-old funeral home, which now primarily serves an immigrant community in Queens that has been hit hard by coronavirus, has been overwhelmed by the number of deceased needing their funeral services because of the virus. Before COVID-19, the funeral home handled an average of seven or eight bodies per week and now are seeing over forty. The Queens community has been one of the most devastated communities in America and the world by COVID-19 (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384627195) Empty seats are seen at the Gerald Neufeld Funeral Home, which had been overwhelmed with the deceased during the Covid-19 pandemic, has now returned to a quieter atmosphere on March 12, 2022 in the Elmhurst neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Grand Central Terminal: 3/22/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 22: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1214100045) Grand Central Terminal stands mostly empty as much of the city is void of cars and pedestrians over fears of spreading the coronavirus on March 22, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375657) People walk through Grand Central Terminal on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The Oculus: 3/29/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK CITY, NY - MARCH 29: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1215549142) The Westfield World Trade Center transportation hub and mall stands nearly deserted in lower Manhattan on March 29, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384376753) People walk through the Westfield World Trade Center on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Staten Island Ferry: 3/24/2020 vs 3/11/2022

NEW YORK CITY, - MARCH 24: (Top Photo, Master ID: 1214512577) People ride on the Staten Island Ferry on March 24, 2020 in New York City. Across the country schools, businesses and places of work have either been shut down or are restricting hours of operation as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: (Bottom Photo, Master ID: 1384375520) People ride the Staten Island Ferry on March 11, 2022 in New York City. On the second anniversary of the pandemic, New York City, which saw some of the highest numbers of deaths and infections from Covid-19 in the world, has slowly been moving back towards normalcy. Tourists are returning and office workers are starting to go back to their workplaces. Streets, sidewalks, public buses and trains are beginning to once again fill with commuters as the virus case count drops and mask mandates are revoked. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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