"This has been my busiest summer ever, by far," said Moon Salahi, owner of Elite Moving & Storage. "24/7, seven days a week, actually. I haven't had a day off in about three weeks."
It seems everywhere you look around the streets of New York City, there’s a moving truck. These days, it's a constant, and some would say, troubling sight, signaling the exodus out of the city.
"This has been my busiest summer ever, by far," said Moon Salahi, owner of Elite Moving & Storage. "24/7, seven days a week, actually. I haven't had a day off in about three weeks."
Another moving company, FlatRate Moving, has seen a 46% boost in business.
"We're averaging somewhere around 100 moves a day," said owner David Giampietro.
Inside Edition caught up with a longtime Manhattan resident who is heading out to the suburbs with his wife and newborn.
"Just the thought of coming back to the city and being exposed to potentially the virus, whether it's the elevators, or grabbing food downstairs or running errands, it was an easy decision for us to leave," the resident said.
Those leaving the city for greener pastures are triggering fierce reaction from lifelong New Yorkers like comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who thinks they're abandoning ship in a time of crisis. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Seinfeld even called comedy club owner James Altucher a "putz" for predicting in his own op-ed that the city will never bounce back.
"For him to just trash me just seemed like not a good use of his time," Altucher told Inside Edition. "My first reaction was man, I can't believe how much he insulted me instead of actually addressing the very serious issues that the city faces that I was pointing out."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is siding with Seinfeld.
"This is what a true New Yorker does, stands and fights and works to make this place better no matter what's thrown at us," de Blasio said.
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