Empire State Building's Siren Lights Creep Out New Yorkers

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A blaring right light pulsed like an emergency siren atop the Empire State Building on Monday night, serving as a haunting sight to New Yorkers concerned about the city's status as the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

The light show was intended as a tribute to emergency responders and healthcare workers on the front lines of the city's efforts to battle the pandemic, but many New Yorkers were far from comforted.

"Starting tonight through the COVID-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight," the Empire State Building wrote in a statement announcing the new display.

Video of the siren-like effect caught from a particularly jarring angle beneath the Midtown skyscraper has been viewed more than 6.5 million times since being uploaded to Twitter. The user who posted the video wrote: "The [Empire State Building] reminding us that the city is in the middle of an emergency," and added that she agreed with the display's intent but said that the execution missed the mark.

Negative reactions poured in on social media, with many calling the light display's effect "creepy" and comparing the tower to the menacing "Eye of Sauron" from the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

A spokesperson for the Empire State Realty Trust did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

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The death toll from the new coronavirus neared 1,000 people in New York City Tuesday, city health officials announced. Despite leading the nation in confirmed coronavirus cases, Mayor Bill de Balsio said the stagger number only represents a fraction of the actual amount of people sickened as the city can only test people who fall critically ill.

Latest city figures show there were 38,087 cases that had tested positive in the city as of Monday evening. Of them, 914 had died. Both the mayor and Governor Andrew Cuomo have said they expect those numbers to worsen over the next couple of weeks.

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