Gov. Cuomo in Albany Jan. 29, 2021
Jan. 29, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Indoor dining will resume on Valentine’s Day at 25 percent capacity across the five boroughs, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.
Cuomo said he lifted the indoor dining ban — which began on Dec. 14 — based on the decline in the COVID-19 positivity rate.
The citywide positivity rate dipped to 4.9 percent yesterday from 7.1 percent on Jan. 5, according to state numbers. The rate, based on projection models, is expected to drop further in coming weeks, Cuomo said.
The announcement is welcome news for restaurant owners who have lost significant revenue since the restriction was put in place.
Cold weather has hampered business for outdoor dining forcing many establishments to close for the winter season — if not for good. Takeout and delivery has brought in modest business for most.
Elsewhere across the state, indoor dining has remained open despite the fact that most regions have had a higher COVID-19 positivity rate than New York City. Cuomo said the city’s high density called for greater restrictions.
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19 Comments
how cute the murdering gov did this in valentines day?
what a sweetie
Cuomo wouldn’t have had to get involved if Trump did his job instead Trump went and murdered a police officer.
Open,close,open,close…I do not care because i can no longer afford to eat out!! Restaurants will reopen for tourists and those who fled and visit looking to get away from the boring suburbs and for selfies.
I desperately hope people behave responsibly and that it’s not too soon.
Are Buffets included?
Too little too late
Cuomo has it in for the restaurant owners
They should be allowed to open at fifty percent
I guess he’s too busy killing the elderly in nursing homes to care
I chuckled when i saw the title of this article ?.
This man makes perfect sense.
Reopening restaurants on one of the busiest out to eat days sounds like a horrible idea. I just came back from Pennsylvania. Restaurants there are supposed to be at 50%, but they’re not. Parking lots are full every night. Some of us would like to stay healthy and not see thousands of more Americans dead. But apparently others just want to abuse the guidelines.
Good point. It’s only 25% capacity, but I won’t be dining inside anytime soon.
The whole country needs to have full compliance on CDC guidelines. The more contagious variants make that even more urgent. Unfortunately some don’t act that way, don’t think the virus will find them or don’t care about their neighbors.
What changed since before jan 20th.
A traitor left office, for one thing.
Oh plse most of the outdoor dining is enclosed anyway and no customer tables are spaced out 6 feet apart. I do not hear that they are spreading covid. House parties they tell us are. he needs to understand that people choosing to eat at outdoor restaurants are not worried about getting covid or do not care about it. These same people are the ones who will dine indoors or outdoors no matter what the pandemic is like. You might as well open everything back up.
Is this a joke, right on Valentine’s day. He playing with our emotions. He’s trying to get the conversation away from the deaths in the nursing homes– don’t fall for it.
Cuomo wouldn’t have had to get involved if Trump did his job instead Trump went and murdered a police officer.
Why February 14th? Why not the 12th? The 8th? The 1st? Or how about TOMORROW?!?!?
On Valentine’s Day? I’m sure this is based purely on trusting the science, right?
Allowing the restaurants to open indoor dining on Valentine’s day shows what a romantic and loving person he is. So dreamy.
What a great way to say “I love you” by taking your significant other to their favorite restaurant on Valentines Day and also celebrate the return of limited indoor dinning! In these difficult economic times as a result of COVID-19, it is especially important to patronize your neighborhood restaurants.
With limited indoor dining returning on February 14th, take out and catering will continue to be the major source of income for most restaurants. When ordering take out, why not tip as if you were dinning indoors? My wife and I don’t mind occasionally paying a little more to help our favorite restaurants survive. Don’t forget your cook and server. We try to tip 20 percent against the total bill including taxes. If it is an odd amount, we round up to the next dollar.
These people are our neighbors. Thousands have already had to permanently close their doors. The remaining restaurants are barely hanging on. Who knows how many more weeks or months will go by, before they can increase indoor dinning to 50% followed by another return to full 100% capacity?
There are over one hundred thousand NYC residents whose livelihood depends on restaurants that are still out of work. This includes bar tenders, waiters, bus boys, cooks and cashiers. Wholesale food sellers, distributors, delivers, linen suppliers are also at a loss. There are also construction contractors and their employees, who renovate or build new restaurants.
Our local entrepreneurs work long hours, pay taxes and provide local employment especially to students during the summer. If we don’t patronize our local restaurants, they don’t eat either.
Larry Penner