PHOTOS: Coronavirus leaves normally bustling downtown Chicago a ghost town

Normally, Anish Kapoor’s famous sculpture Cloud Gate, aka “The Bean,” is one of Chicago’s biggest draws. But coronavirus has seen it closed to visitors. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

It’s an eerie quiet.

The Loop is usually a-buzz with people, cars, commerce, life.

But now the coronavirus pandemic is keeping millions of us in our homes.

The number of people on a downtown Chicago sidewalk on Madison Street near State Street during a normally bustling weekday morning commute this past week: zero.

The number of pigeons: one.

Stores on the Magnificent Mile sit dark. The past few mornings saw a few shoppers along North Michigan Avenue, many in face masks. But instead of Macy’s bags or designer goods, they carried Walgreens bags filled with Lysol and toilet paper.

Surveying downtown Chicago, Sun-Times photographer Ashlee Rezin Garcia found surreal scenes. And no one can say just now how long things will remain like this.

A man wearing a face mask walks through a nearly empty Daley Plaza shortly after 8 a.m. on a foggy weekday morning.

There’s almost no traffic and few pedestrians on LaSalle Street near Madison Street in the Loop shortly before noon on Wednesday.

Welcome to a near-barren Loop sidewalk on State Street at Madison Street during a weekday lunch hour post-pandemic shutdowns.

Number of people on a downtown Chicago sidewalk on Madison Street near State Street during a normally bustling weekday morning commute: zero. Number of pigeons: one.

A woman has the crosswalk to herself at Washington and Clark streets outside City Hall at noon on a weekday thanks to coronavirus.

Columbia Sportswear, Uniqlo, H&M and Verizon on North Michigan Avenue all sit closed around noon Thursday.

The sidewalk on North Wabash Avenue at Washington Street was so empty on a weekday morning that there was plenty of room to sit down without fear of getting in the way of pedestrians.

A lone pedestrian walks past the closed Neiman Marcus store at 737 N. Michigan Ave.

Federal Plaza sits empty on a usually busy weekday morning.

A man wearing a face mask has the sidewalk nearly to himself on a usually packed Michigan Avenue near Madison Street shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday.

A message board outside the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which has canceled performances of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, urges people to “stay healthy” and promises, “We’ll be back.”

A man has a CTA bus stop all to himself on Madison Street near State Street in the Loop shortly after 8 a.m. during a foggy morning commute on Thursday.