You are reading

Indoor Dining in New York City to Be Shut Down Monday as Hospitalizations Continue to Climb

(Photo by Benedikt Geyer on Unsplash)

Dec. 11, 2020 By Allie Griffin

New York City restaurants will have to close their indoor dining areas come Monday, in response to the growing number of city residents in hospitals with COVID-19.

Indoor dining will be shuttered across the five boroughs for at least two weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

Cuomo had warned earlier this week that indoor dining would likely shutter Monday should the hospitalization rate climb.

The rate has shown no signs of slowing — triggering the closure, Cuomo said Friday.

The city saw the highest number of new hospitalizations in several months on Wednesday, with 205 patient admissions. Wednesday marked the first day that the number surpassed the city’s threshold of 200 new patients since the city put in place a series of yardsticks to monitor the spread this spring.

(NYC Health Dept)

Outdoor dining, takeout and delivery will still be permitted.

Cuomo, however, acknowledged that the shutdown would be a significant blow to restaurants. He said he would extend the commercial eviction moratorium beyond Jan. 1 to help them through this period. The new date was not disclosed.

The governor said the state doesn’t have funds to provide economic relief to bar and restaurant owners. He said the onus is on the federal government to come to their aid.

“The federal government must provide relief to these bars and restaurants in this next [stimulus] package,” Cuomo said.

New York City has been subject to the toughest restrictions in the state since the pandemic hit. Restaurants across the five boroughs were already limited to 25 percent capacity for indoor dining.

Meanwhile, in other regions across the state the limit is currently at 50 percent capacity. If hospitalizations increase in those areas, Cuomo said that the number would be reduced to 25 percent.

Cuomo said he will reassess indoor dining in other regions of the state next week.

His restrictions on indoor dining follows recent guidance from the CDC warning that COVID-19 is more easily spread through the activity.

New York City has the strictest stipulations due in part to its high population density, Cuomo said.

“In New York City, you put the CDC caution on indoor dining together with the rate of transmission and the density and the crowding — that is a bad situation,” he said. “The hospitalizations have continued to increase in New York City.”

Meanwhile, gyms and salons will remain open — as they have proved to have little impact on viral spread — Cuomo said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens man sentenced to 7 years in prison for 2021 attempted kidnapping in Richmond Hill: DA

A Fresh Meadows man was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Richmond Hill in July 2021, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.

James McGonagle, 27, of Parsons Boulevard, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court in November to attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child for grabbing the child off a sidewalk before his mother and siblings thwarted the abduction.

Lawmakers secure federal funding to combat flooding in Queens after impact of Hurricane Ida and other storms

U.S. Congresswomen Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, announced on Jan. 7 that President Joe Biden has signed their legislation into law to address severe flooding in Queens.

The measure aims to mitigate future disasters like those caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in September 2021, which inundated the borough with record-shattering rainfall.

Op-ed | New York’s ground lease co-ops: Our families can’t wait any longer 

Jan. 14, 2025 By Michael Tang 

Last December brought a long-awaited victory for New York City. Our City Council adopted the historic City of Yes housing plan, paving the way for more than 80,000 new homes by 2040 with the promise of affordability. As a longtime resident of Flushing, Queens, I naturally welcomed the news – it’s a much-needed reprieve for New Yorkers as housing costs continue to soar in the midst of an unparalleled housing crisis. But entering 2025 on the heels of this win, we residents at  Murray Hill Cooperative remain at risk — our lives are virtually unchanged because we belong to the last class of unprotected “tenants” as ground lease co-op residents. Without legislative action, more than 25,000 New Yorkers face the threat of losing their homes — homes that we own — to landowners seeking to raise our ground rent to astronomical rates.