With the unprecedented events of the past year — including a deadly pandemic and a turbulent presidential election — living through history doesn’t seem to be too uncommon anymore. But few, if any, might have foreseen they’d live through something that hadn’t happened since the War of 1812.

Hospital capacity slipped a little going into Thursday, prolonging New York City's hope of becoming the last region in the state to start reopening in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the …