As expected, Gov. Cuomo announced today that NYC restaurants must end indoor dining after this weekend following an ongoing increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.Indoor dining will close in New York City starting Monday.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) December 11, 2020
Hospitalizations have not stabilized, and with a rising infection rate and NYC’s density, this means that indoor dining is too high of a risk.
Takeout, delivery and outdoor dining will continue.
Restaurants will still be able to continue outdoor dining, takeout and delivery.
"You're going to see a bad December, a bad January. How bad is the question," Cuomo said at today's press briefing.
You can read more about the new shutdown and its impact on the local restaurant industry at Eater.
Some local restaurants preemptively closed for the time being ... while others today announced they are shutting down after this weekend until the spring, including Van Da on Fourth Street, whose last day in business for now is tomorrow.
A new survey that the New York State Restaurant Association conducted revealed that 54 percent of NYC restauranteurs say it is likely that they will close in the next six months if another federal relief package does not come through.
Meanwhile, gyms and salons will be allowed to continue operating in orange zones with lowered capacity from 33 percent to 25 percent. Find more details at Gothamist.
Cuomo said officials are especially concerned about "living room spread." The state's contact tracing data shows nearly 74 percent of new COVID-19 cases are coming from households and social gatherings, Cuomo said. Restaurants and bars accounted for 1.43 percent of new cases while gyms caused less than 1 percent, he said.
10 comments:
Seriously, hospitality is 1.4% of the spread? How does a closure make sense then? Moronic.
LAME!
Any idea what this means for the enclosed “outdoor dining”? As I recall, if the space was enclosed on more than two sides (over 50%) it had to comply with indoor dining capacity restrictions...
Time to cook at home
I wish they would shut down outdoor dining for a few weeks and pay the restaurants. These structures some of them have built are essentially outdoor rooms. The place on the corner has three sides enclosed and a roof, and the tables are not spaced six feet apart, which is a joke now that scientists are questioning the whole 6 feet thing.
Remember, this is all down to Mitch McConnell, who has been holding up relief packages for months because he would rather see people suffer than let them get the idea that the government might help them. Simple as that. The alternatives aren't just "spread COVID" or "economic ruin." Never forget who took "support businesses until this crisis is over" out of the equation.
Agreed, Anonymous at 4:53 PM; these "rooms" are little heated patios; I don't understand why they can't instead go to the expense of putting a HEPA air purifier in every restaurant and continuing with the stringent cleaning.
In any case, I'm loving bringing takeout home; I'd rather eat in the privacy of my own apartment, and I figure taking the food home leaves space for the people who live farther away. I got stuff from Avant Garden tonight—the artichoke toast—and Superiority Burger—soup of the day and a New Creation. Life is good.
Moronic of Mario to shut down indoor dining in Manhattan when we have a 2.5% Covid rate while the rest of NY state has a higher 5% rate and will continues to have indoor dining at 50%.
Science! Not!
Re: Anonymous at 6:26 AM
That's correct, but any urban setting North of NYC isn't close to the number of individuals concentrated in one area that one experiences in the city. So on a busy day on Main St, here in Beacon during a pandemic crisis, it's nowhere like the city with throngs of people crowding the sidewalks and the restaurants. Most of eateries are usually small where indoor dining is very limited to begin with. You're talking about a maximum of 3 indoor tables being serviced during this crisis. Now, I don't fully understand the science or rationale behind Andrew Cuomo's decision to keep indoor dining North of NYC, but I'm thinking it's easier to contain or trace the outbreaks in the small cities, villages and towns, versus dense neighborhoods in the Big Apple that flares up like an uncontrollable wildfire when there is an outbreak. Furthermore, the 5% positivity rate you mentioned is the average and Albany measures them by regions and counties, not specific city, village or town like NYC where there is data for each zip code. I think a few counties here have requested that Albany measure rates according to zip codes to get a better idea of the current situation.
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