Dust off your MetroCard and sharpen those sidewalk elbows. New York City streets are officially back to their pre-pandemic hustle. For the first time since COVID brought the city to a standstill, Manhattan foot traffic has not just matched but edged past 2019 levels, according to new data from analytics firm Placer.ai .

The report shows that visits to office buildings in commercial districts were up 1.3-percent last month compared to July 2019, putting New York City ahead of other major U.S. cities in the race back to normal. And while “normal” here still means dodging food carts and weaving around tourists, business leaders are celebrating the milestone.

“It feels GLORIOUS! My city is back!” gushed Midtown attorney and lifelong New Yorker Stuart Saft to Gothamist . Saft

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