Remember Last Year's 7 p.m. Cheer? Some New Yorkers Are Still at It.

Early in the pandemic, New Yorkers began cheering for essential workers every evening at 7. From windows and balconies, they clapped, yelled, blew horns and banged pots and pans, letting it all out for the men and women facing down the deadly virus with little more than a flimsy mask.

The ritual lasted a few months. By the summer last year, the booming five-borough chorus had quieted to a few isolated soloists. Yet the nightly noisemaking is still going strong at a handful of apartment buildings clustered in a neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with cheers still sounding at the appointed hour.

These 7 p.m. revelers haven’t adopted a moniker or formed any official organization, though a few have started to meet, swapping greetings and learning names. Up until then, most had been known only by the nicknames pinned to their varied cheering styles.

Opera Guy, Jumping Jacks People, the Clanger.

These men and women struggle to explain why they still cheer after most of the city has stopped and the pandemic has largely eased throughout the metropolitan area. At best, they say it has something to do with airing a message of hope.

“If you continue to do positive things, you can affect people,” said Janise Poticha, a rabbi who comes closest to being the group’s unofficial leader. Ms. Poticha is known as the Shofar Lady. She sometimes blows a shofar, an instrument tied to the Jewish faith, in her 7 p.m. ritual.