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Feb. 8, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Indoor dining in New York City will resume Friday — two days ahead of schedule, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
Cuomo moved its reopening date two days ahead of what was originally planned. He had previously announced that it would resume on Sunday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.
Restaurants will be restricted to 25 percent capacity inside their dining rooms and must close by 10 p.m.
Cuomo said he decided to push the opening up so that restaurant owners and staff can prepare for Valentine’s Day weekend — typically a busy time for city eateries.
Restaurant industry leaders applauded the change of schedule.
“We commend Governor Cuomo for permitting indoor dining to resume in New York City on Friday, instead of Sunday the originally scheduled date,” Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, wrote on Twitter.
“This will allow restaurants to generate much needed revenue from the Valentine’s Day weekend business, much of which they would have lost because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.”
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12 Comments
I don’t see how clustering people indoors in the winter could be bad
This is a terrible idea that flies in the face of public health recommendations. Cases and positivity rates have skyrocketed since restaurants were closed in December, and despite cases leveling off after the holidays there are now deadlier, more contagious, and vaccine evading mutations spreading. And this is what we do?
Per NYT:
New York City is at an extremely high risk level.
Indoor activities are extremely dangerous right now.
Avoid indoor dining, bars, gyms, movie theaters and nonessential shopping, as well as having friends over to your home, and indoor personal care services like haircuts and manicures. Given the severity of the outbreak in New York City, spending time inside with people from other households puts you at risk for getting the coronavirus or spreading it to others.
Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.
Indoor dining isn’t the only opportunity for spreading; just one of the least essential reasons for taking the risk. Most that dine at restaurants are not worried or do not care.
Some restaurants are defying the restrictions. I saw it on the news and witnessed it myself. Went to get a cup of coffee from a cafe in Astoria and people were sitting in the back drinking and eating with dim lights on. Was about 10 of them sitting at various tables.
They’ve made these outdoor structure into essentially indoor structures. Just let people eat inside!
Covid numbers are declining because more people are staying home and less are willing to wait for hours to get tested in the freezing cold and snow. Mask-up people!
What about hospitalizations, deaths, those are also down because “it’s cold outside”? People are too cold to go to hospital? Or they are not telling us real numbers?
Cuomo is a good man doing a good job during very hard times.
Lots of elderly people died because of him,then he said “ who care how they died”!
#SafeAtHome
Its about time!!!!!!!!