Coronavirus Update New York City: Indoor dining capacity at NYC restaurants to increase to 35% next Friday, Cuomo says

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City restaurants will be allowed to increase their indoor dining capacity to 35% beginning February 26, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

Cuomo said the move will bring the city consistent with New Jersey's policy.

"What's happening now is people in New York City - Staten Island, Manhattan - are going to New Jersey to those restaurants, so it's not really accomplishing its purpose," Cuomo said.

Maximum indoor capacity at restaurants throughout the rest of the state, including on nearby Long Island, and in neighboring Connecticut will continue to be 50%.

Cuomo said he was comfortable making the change because the statewide COVID-19 positivity and hospitalization rates have dropped dramatically since the surge in cases following the holidays.

"We're responding to the data, obviously we're more sensitive to New York City because of the density, the concentration, the history, but we're headed in the right direction, we're making progress, the numbers continue to be good, we'll continue to make progress," Cuomo said.

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