Indoor dining to shut down again in NYC starting Monday

Coronavirus update for NYC

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that indoor dining would be shut down in New York City starting on Monday.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that indoor dining would be shut down in New York City starting on Monday.

Marcus Solis reports on Governor Andrew Cuomo's announcement that indoor dining would be shut down in New York City starting on Monday.

Many restaurant owners have said that if forced to shut down again they aren't sure they will be able to survive the winter.

The indoor dining closure will last at least two weeks.

"I support the governor 100%," Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier ahead of Governor Cuomo's anticipated announcement.

He had warned that capacity would need to be shut down in the city and decreased elsewhere if regional hospitalization rates didn't stabilize in five days, apparently they did not.

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"If we don't slow the spread and we overwhelm the hospital system, then every restaurant goes to 0% indoor, outdoor, 0%. That's the worst case scenario," Cuomo said.

Indoor dining will stop on Monday due to rising hospital rates in New York City.

Indoor dining accounts for 1.43% of recent spread. The governor said much of the recent spike in infections is the result of indoor gatherings in private homes, accounting for roughly 74% of cases.

Prior to the announcement Mayor de Blasio signaled his support for curtailing indoor dining.

"I feel tremendous empathy for restaurant owners," de Blasio said. "I feel for them, but sometimes it's smart to say look, if you take an action now, you can stop much worse things from happening later."

Earlier in the week, the mayor added that he hoped outdoor dining would continue to help city restaurants stay afloat.

"Obviously, outdoor would continue under this scenario, and outdoor is now permanent," Mayor de Blasio had said. "A lot of these restaurants weatherize, so it can work even in colder months takeout and delivery will continue."

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Data will be analyzed over this weekend and indoor dining capacity in the rest of New York state could also be reduced and areas could move into different zones.

It has been projected that 50 percent of city restaurants might not survive the pandemic.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance released a statement saying:

The launch comes after New York set a record of more than 500,000 tests in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

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