5th Avenue Museums Cancel Block Party Over Delta Variant Concerns

EAST HARLEM, NY — Summoning eerie flashbacks to the spring of 2020, a group of Fifth Avenue museums became the latest institutions to cancel a public event this week over concerns about the rapidly spreading delta variant.

The "Uptown Bounce," a popular block party co-hosted by the Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio and the Africa Center, was set to return Saturday after being forced to go virtual last year.

This year's event even got a special name to mark the big return: "Uptown Bounce (Back)."

But on Wednesday, organizers ssaid they had decided to scrap it, due to "growing concerns regarding the spread of the COVID-19 Delta Variant."

"The decision, albeit difficult, places the health and wellbeing of staff, talent, vendors, and our community, at the forefront," they said in an email.

All three museums are themselves staying open, they noted. The Museum of the City of New York is also hosting a mobile vaccine van from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday in front of its building on Fifth Avenue near East 104th Street.

The more-contagious delta variant now makes up more than 90 percent of all new cases in New York City, according to official data. Officials are begging unvaccinated New Yorkers to get their shots, describing it as the only way to end the pandemic.