Exactly 100 days after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in New York City, some workers have begun returning to jobs.
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People who had been staying home for months boarded subways and buses as the most populous US city began Phase One of its hopeful journey toward economic recovery.
Nearly 22,000 residents died after contracting the coronavirus.
"This is clearly the hardest place in America to get to this moment because we're the epicentre," Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
New York, by far the hardest-hit US city, on Monday reported the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus fell to a new low of three per cent, well below its threshold for reopening of 15 per cent, de Blasio said.
Some 400,000 workers head back to 32,000 construction sites, wholesale and manufacturing centres and some retail sites across the city.
De Blasio urged them to wear face masks and use social distancing to keep COVID-19 cases on a downward trend - particularly those who use mass transit to get to work.
Subway rider Jim Duke said normally packed trains had few enough riders to accommodate social distancing from other commuters.
"There's not a lot of people on there, so it's fairly easy. So far," Duke said, wearing a face mask.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo noted that the rest of the state had already entered the same reopening phase without a jump in infections.
He said this was largely due to restrictions that limit restaurants to serving guests only outdoors and retailers to making only footpath sales.
"If we follow those guidelines in New York City, there should not be a spike, just like there hasn't been a spike across the rest of the state," Cuomo said.
Australian Associated Press
