Coronavirus News: Catering halls to reopen in Nassau County as COVID cases decrease

LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- Nassau County officials announced Wednesday they are reopening catering halls as the number of coronavirus cases goes down.

With Governor Andrew Cuomo's announcement last week about weddings being able to start on March 15 with no more than 150 guests and COVID testing, there is a light at the end of the tunnel at places like the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

Susan Paino and Thomas Bove were supposed to get married last August, but they just want everyone at their wedding to be safe.

"I'm really excited to become a wife and a mom, and the fact that it had to be set back, is discouraging," Paino said.

The couple is scheduled to tie the knot on June 6 at the Crest Hollow Country Club, which has been empty for a year now.

425 employees worked there before the pandemic, but since then, they were forced to let go 400 of them.

Crest Hollow Country Club CEO Richard Monti says as long as the science is followed, he thinks that people can get back to "some sense of normalcy."

County Executive Laura Curran says the latest reports show more than 80,000 hospitality jobs have been lost on Long Island because of the pandemic.

Nassau and other counties are still awaiting those details and many others from the state about how the mandatory COVID testing will be done for guests and about how parties will be run.

Curran says she believes it should include Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet Sixteens and other social events.

It was only a few short months ago other catering halls in Suffolk County were penalized for holding "super spreader events."

The key to prevention? Strict penalties for violations down the road.

For the soon-to-be wedded couple, the past year has been all about perspective.

"Fingers crossed, and hopes that all goes well," Paino said.

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