In America, the rich flee from the big cities

Madonna certainly didn’t do herself and other wealthy Americans a favor with the Bathtub Rose Petals video. “The special thing about Covid-19 is that the disease doesn’t matter how rich or famous you are. Everyone is the same with her, ”the Queen of Pop had said when she was naked in the tub on the weekend with perfect makeup and soft music. The answer was not long in coming. On social media, thousands of Americans berated Madonna as stupid, self-loving, and withdrawn.

In fact, the “material girl”, with an estimated net worth of more than $ 800 million in recent weeks, seems to have looked rather rarely from the windows of her townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Since Corona has also spread between New York and Los Angeles, the engines have been whirring over Manhattan. The fear of becoming infected with the virus on a scheduled flight drives business people and celebrities in private jets.

Airline companies such as “Blade” meanwhile regularly send helicopters to coastal locations in the Hamptons, where many wealthy New Yorkers have isolated themselves in their vacation homes. On request, they provide the urban refugees with medicines, books and computers. “A lot of things you can just buy in New York are not available there. We are currently experiencing an extraordinary time and are trying to help, ”says company spokesman Simon McLaren.

More protection on the yacht?

Helicopter computers are just a service to help America’s wealthy get through the corona crisis. Because of exit restrictions in Los Angeles and New York, the demand for domestic workers living with their employers is also increasing. The advantages? Assistance with cooking, cleaning, and hate, and less risk of getting infected by the domestic worker after driving the bus from downtown Los Angeles to Malibu.

Companies such as “Lily Pond Services”, valued by celebrities for providing discreet help, are also looking for medical personnel in pandemic times. “I get a lot of calls from clients asking about doctors or nurses who are moving in temporarily. In the event that they become infected and need to be tested, ”said Melissa Psitos, owner of Lily Pond Services, the Hollywood Reporter.

Social distancing drives many “one-percenters”, as America’s big earners are called, onto the water. Although the season hasn’t started yet, they are retiring to yachts. Psitos tries to help here too. “Suddenly I should also supply boats with personnel. Many people are so worried about the virus that they think the safest place is off the coast. ”

The population is displeased.

Luxury real estate brokers also report of billionaires looking for private islands in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, many technology entrepreneurs are expected to move from Silicon Valley to New Zealand. In the event of an emergency, Peter Thiel, co-founder of the Paypal payment service, already found a retreat in remote Queenstown a few years ago, including a panic room.

There is now resistance among many non-millionaires. According to media reports of celebrities like Idris Elba and Kris Jenner who got one of the rare corona tests, even though they showed no symptoms, more and more communities are rejecting pandemic tourists. Nobel places like the Hamptons, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, Obama’s second home, are already complaining about empty shelves in grocery stores. “Vegetables are no longer to be found in this city. We owe that to elitist people who think they are above the rules, ”said an East Hamptons resident in the New York Post.

Also on the island of Nantucket, which actually only attracts wealthy visitors from New York, Washington and Philadelphia in the summer months, toilet paper, canned goods and eggs are slowly running out. After consultation with Massachusetts’ civil protection authorities, the city fathers have now imposed a curfew – and restricted ferry traffic.