NYC’s Indoor Dining To Ban: Governor Cuomo Takes The Step To Limit The Rapid Spread Of Coronavirus
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that indoor dining limits would be restored permanently in New York City as coronavirus outbreaks and hospitalizations begin to escalate throughout the city and across the state.
As of Monday, in the area, one of the world’s great kitchen capitals, only takeout orders and outdoor dining will be permitted, the governor said at a news conference in Albany.
For a week the Democrat had speculated at an indoor dining clampdown, saying he was watching to see if hospitalization rates stabilized. They didn’t, and Gov. Cuomo said that he wanted to act, amid the economic suffering of one of the largest and most vital industries in the region.
“In New York City, you put the CDC caution on indoor dining together with the rate of transmission and the density and the crowding, that is a bad situation,” he said.
Bill de Blasio, New York City Mayor Also Agreed With Cuomo’s Decision
He also said on Twitter that it is painful to see all the restaurants struggling. But they are helpless, as they too could not allow this virus to reassert itself in their city.
Despite resistance from the beleaguered restaurant sector, which warned of holiday season cuts at a moment when additional COVID-19 relief had yet to be passed by the federal government, the governor’s order arrived.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said that for dozens more restaurants and jobs, this would be the final straw. With zero economic assistance for small companies that are still struggling to thrive, the regulations commence on Monday, he added.
Cuomo noted the hardship of confronting restaurants. But he added, “It is in everyone’s interest to control the virus, don’t overwhelm the hospitals, don’t overwhelm the rate of positivity.”
The decision comes when wintery weather has begun to arrive in New York City, wherein the midst of freezing winds and often blowing snow, outdoor dining settings on sidewalks and in tents on the street are likely to be much less common.
Doctors have repeatedly cautioned that indoor dining poses a risk of airborne transmission. Particularly in a small, crowded restaurant where people drink and can take off masks while not eating. Recently the U.S. identified such indoor dining. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention as “high risk.”
Few More Areas Where Indoor Dining Will Be Prohibited
Other locations, including Pennsylvania, which declared Thursday that indoor dining would be prohibited beginning this weekend, have also clamped down.
Since the state closed nonessential businesses in March, New York’s restaurants have been in trouble.
As the closure for several forms of businesses was eventually lifted, restaurants remained limited. In June, the state began allowing indoor dining in some regions outside New York City. And Cuomo allowed indoor dining in the city on Sept. 30 at 25 per cent capacity. Restaurants can get half their tables packed in other sections of the state.
Cuomo is exploring limits in other areas of the state. But on Friday he did not announce any improvements. The spread of the virus has been lower in New York City than in many other areas of the state where restaurants are less restricted.
Cuomo said the population of New York City has made it distinct from other areas of the state.
But the governor’s office has accepted that for about 80 per cent of cases in late fall. New York is unable to establish a single point of transmission.
