You pay a huge premium (both financially and in terms of quality of life) to live in NYC for the energy, culture, restaurants/nightlife, density and interesting people. Right now the energy isn't there, culture/restaurants/nightlife are closed or limited, density is poison and while the people may still be interesting; you're not meeting anyone anyway. Oh and chances are, your apartment isn't big enough to comfortably work from home. NYC will come back, but if you're renting or have an option to move, it's hard to justify staying.