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People working on high-priced transactions like IPOs, bond deals or mergers and acquisitions "used to travel a lot to meet with clients'' who would typically only sign agreements in-person, recalls Karl Haeling of LBBW bank. "Now they would very happily give mandate without seeing you," said Haeling.

In the image: Daniel Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, is seen in his office on Fifth Avenue in New York on Oct 15.

The pandemic's intensification in March temporarily cleared the market makers from the New York Stock Exchange's boisterous floor and forced traders across Wall Street to retreat indoors, relying on their phones, email and instant messaging systems to talk with clients.

But that hasn't held indices back: the Nasdaq and S&P 500 have both recovered from their massive plunges in March, while the Dow has also regained most of its strength, though millions remain jobless and unemployment is at a high 7.9 percent.

But even with the virus still a threat across the US, traders are slowly trickling back to Wall Street. The New York City Economic Development Corporation estimates there are 460,000 people employed by the financial sector in the city, and their work is considered an essential service under state law.

The New York Stock Exchange reopened in May with traders donning masks and separated by plexiglass, while Alpert started working from his office again at the end of June.

BNP Paribas, which had a few cases of employees testing positive for the virus or suspecting they had it, has let about 10 to 15 percent of their staff return.

Visitors are banned in the office, but in a tour given to an AFP journalist over live video, traders could be seen scattered over a long line of desks and separated by plexiglass, with floor markings encouraging people to socially distance.

"Anything is on the table to give our employees flexibility," said Kevin Abraszek, the bank's head of human resources change and transformation.

Outside of Lower Manhattan's skyscrapers, there's no doubt the neighborhoods aren't back to their former selves. Traders in their uniforms of sleeveless fleece vests no longer flock Wall Street each morning, and industry officials acknowledge it may take a while longer before normalcy returns.

"We are trying to instill a longer-term new... working culture in which working from home will remain part of what we do," Abraszek said. "It is just a question of how much that will be."