(Photo by Benedikt Geyer on Unsplash)
Dec. 11, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York City restaurants will have to close their indoor dining areas come Monday, in response to the growing number of city residents in hospitals with COVID-19.
Indoor dining will be shuttered across the five boroughs for at least two weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.
Cuomo had warned earlier this week that indoor dining would likely shutter Monday should the hospitalization rate climb.
The rate has shown no signs of slowing — triggering the closure, Cuomo said Friday.
The city saw the highest number of new hospitalizations in several months on Wednesday, with 205 patient admissions. Wednesday marked the first day that the number surpassed the city’s threshold of 200 new patients since the city put in place a series of yardsticks to monitor the spread this spring.
(NYC Health Dept)
Outdoor dining, takeout and delivery will still be permitted.
Cuomo, however, acknowledged that the shutdown would be a significant blow to restaurants. He said he would extend the commercial eviction moratorium beyond Jan. 1 to help them through this period. The new date was not disclosed.
The governor said the state doesn’t have funds to provide economic relief to bar and restaurant owners. He said the onus is on the federal government to come to their aid.
“The federal government must provide relief to these bars and restaurants in this next [stimulus] package,” Cuomo said.
Indoor dining will close in New York City starting Monday.
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.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) December 11, 2020
New York City has been subject to the toughest restrictions in the state since the pandemic hit. Restaurants across the five boroughs were already limited to 25 percent capacity for indoor dining.
Meanwhile, in other regions across the state the limit is currently at 50 percent capacity. If hospitalizations increase in those areas, Cuomo said that the number would be reduced to 25 percent.
Cuomo said he will reassess indoor dining in other regions of the state next week.
His restrictions on indoor dining follows recent guidance from the CDC warning that COVID-19 is more easily spread through the activity.
New York City has the strictest stipulations due in part to its high population density, Cuomo said.
“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. “The hospitalizations have continued to increase in New York City.”
Meanwhile, gyms and salons will remain open — as they have proved to have little impact on viral spread — Cuomo said.
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54 Comments
Stay fit people! And watch what you eat. Cook af home.
Well….not enough to call for take away or have it delivered. I’ll just sit here and scream at Fox News instead.
Mmm mmm! Just in time this week to have my meals sitting outside during a Nor’easter!
Lol- Try having it delivered. A little support to local restaurants is what’s needed not stupidity.
We’re a total scam.
Many restaurants use there own staff to make deliveries. You can always just pick up your order to go.
or you can learn to cook and make better food than restaurants. even a child can figure it out.
Not just better but healthier. Restaurants overdo it on the salt, oils, and fats and if you get use to it you won’t notice.
They gonna end indoor dining… and announce it by having a press conference indoors! lol gov should spend an hour outside talking to the press in the cold.
Narcissistic hypocrites have zero sense of irony or introspection. Cognitive dissonance is their modus operandi.
ALL STORES & RESTAURANT SHOULD BE OPEN . PEOPLE THAT ARE SICK STAY HOME ..THAT’S IT.
VV- Where do the people who are infected but show no symptoms and more than likely don’t even know they’re infected fit in your scenario?
when has that ever happened? how do you think everyone is till getting sick LOL!
Sad. i do not want another lock-down. I’m hoping the renter’s market pushes my landlord to put washer/ dryer units in our apartments! It’s the 2020’s, people!
Ask for those amenities. Don’t just hope.
Closing restaurants would make sense to me if the influx of positive covid cases were coming from restaurant’s. But there are coming from home gatherings.
Natasha- Restaurants aren’t closed, you’re mistaken. We’re open for business just call or order on line. It’s a small inconvenience to some and convenience to others.
Maybe if restaurants lowered their meal prices and catered to the local community their delivery sales would go up. many local residents can not afford these expensive meals. Most opened up for tourists and people visiting Queens.
Melissa – What are you talking about.? My parents live in Sunnyside, I live in Sunnyside and most of my grown children live within Queens and we all frequent the local restaurants. As do our friends and neighbors. The restaurants are primarily clean friendly serving some of the best food anywhere at reasonable prices.
what a privileged response..try going for a walk and see how far the food pantry line is..these are are neighbors and friends in need of food. Most can not afford to eat out.
Melissa – You’re obviously living above your means in a neighborhood whose rents are way out of your reach if the amenities that neighborhood provides and offers are out of your reach. This is a ramification of social welfare programs like section 8 housing and the disregard of zoning laws by unscrupulous landlords who warehouse low wage and in many instances illegal and undocumented individuals and families in a neighborhood that is just too expensive in line with their salaries We live in a consumer driven market economy and market principles and forces are at play. Thats exactly why me my friends and relatives have sense enough not to live in places like Scarsdale or Greenwich which are beyond our financial reach. It’s not privilege to live within the confines of the law and within ones financial means, it’s called having sense.
the world will always need renters that spend every penny they have, lavishly spending on restaurants and stuff they dont need. its a habit that will never break.
Boondy – A meal out a couple of times a month is far from living lavishly. You need to raise your standards. If eating out is beyond your means then you’re already living above your means and should relocate to a cheaper place. NYCHA sounds about your speed.
What tourists were frequenting Sunnyside???
We need a national lockdown!
agreed, but only with the help of the martial law because stupid people dont take it seriously. this should have been done in march, and it should have ended at the end of april. yet here we are.
please I was in the ER hospital and they were allowing patients to take off their masks so they can eat all while waiting for covid tests results!
??♀️?
Let’s all get together and help out restaurants! How about a snow festival this week where we all eat out in the snow. I know it sounds stupid but let’s try and think of something. They need help!!!!!
Jerry- How about just ordering food to go? It’s really no that complicated, no matter what Fox News tells you.
You’re obsessed with Fox News. Perhaps you should stop watching it. There are plenty of left-wing broadcasters where you can be spoon-fed your daily dose of DNC talking points.
Just because someone calls out a network that has a history of lies and bias for this deception does not make that person left of center or looking for Democratic talking points. You’re response is that of a cult member. Someone who attacks the cult must be in league with a cult generated abomination.
Good thing some restaurants and bars built outdoor enclosures. Some added doors and windows in case an inspector comes by.
that will be to be taken down too if there is a major snow storm –
No win situation. Close these places, also cause hardships for those working in these places. Increase deliveries and outside dining. Gyms are not essential and heavy breathing..
It took this long to close things? ?. If you would have done a better job Governor Cuomo we would not be shutting things down right now!!!!
If patrons wore masks in general!!!
Feel so bad for business owners right now.
Larry – Do you feel bad enough to order food to go or have a meal delivered? That’s all it takes to support your local and favorite restaurants. Restaurants don’t need pity they need business. Money for food to go or food delivery is just as good as money for dining in.
the socialist liberal democrats are dragging this out on purpose.
But don’t worry, you can still pack Walmart, target, airplanes, trains, etc. if your business is on the stock market, it’s fine!
Indoor dining is bad, but packed buses and trains are ok ?
Thank you Mr Cuomo, Thank you for taking care of us! It would be easy for you to do nothing and have fun playing golf!
Patsy – Trump is the one playing golf.
300k dead. No stimulus package. Millions homeless. Blame the Senate.
Good idea Cuomo. Let’s all go “outdoor dinning” with frosty the snowman ☃️.
Jill- Are you really that susceptible to brainwashing and propaganda? There are other options like ordering to go and having it delivered. Critical thought not your thing?
I think you need schooling more than you need to sit inside any restaurant.
Indoor dining? But gyms remain open? Barbershops and nail salons remain open? Makes no sense!
Restaurants are less than 1% of source of cases. It’s about power not Covid.
When tyranny becomes law, Rebellion becomes duty.
Tyranny is what victims of the virus their families and hospital workers are living and dying with everyday. You sound like an agitator who probably doesn’t even frequent restaurants. You can still support your local restaurants by having food delivered or take away. Money is money, revenue is still revenue whether you sit inside outside, your living room or your dining room. Grow up.
Wrong. Cuomo is violating property rights. You sound like someone who doesn’t own a business let alone a restaurant. You sound more like an entitled white liberal who feels fantastic in bossing people around. Most immigrants come to the US to own a business but now communist government is trying to take it away with a virus that’s a 99% survival rate. What’s coming youll regret.
Liam – Do you only speak in buzzword. The hallmark of a weak minded brainwashed puppet. Your statement point by point. 1- Cuomo is not violating property rights. You obviously know nothing about the four broad components of property rights and the health related guidelines and restrictions put in place by the Governors administration. 2- I’m neither Conservative or Liberal, just middle of the road like most Americans. 3- My family owned and operated a luncheonette on 43rd avenue and 49th Street throughout the 50’s & 60’s the we bought a bar on Skillman Avenue in the 70’s. Where I worked until I graduated St. John’s and took a position as Food and Beverage Director for Hilton Hotels. 4- “Bossing people around” is just a ridiculous statement hahaha I won’t even bother. Are you 12? 5- I find it hard to believe most immigrants come here wanting to own a business most I know came here for an array of reasons. 6-It’s not only about COVID deaths, the Governor is trying to prevent the hospital system from being overwhelmed again. The hospitalization rate for COVID-19 according to the CDC is 278.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 infected. COVID-19 death rate is currently 1.82% total 302,411 deaths and 3,083 daily deaths reported and climbing.Americans have died 2.5 times the rate of Canadians and 46 times the rate of Japan. Since you know it all please tell everyone the long term affects of the virus.