Cuomo lifts COVID ‘yellow zones’, curfews for gyms and bowling alleys, but not restaurants and bars
ALBANY — New York is relaxing a statewide curfew for gyms, casinos and bowling alleys — but not bars or restaurants.
Starting on April 5, certain businesses will be allowed to cater to customers past 11 p.m. as the Empire State continues to roll back COVID restrictions, Gov. Cuomo announced Wednesday.
However, closing time will remain the same for restaurants and catered events such as weddings must shut down by midnight.
“The 11 p.m. curfew for food and beverage establishments and the 12 a.m. curfew for catered events will remain in effect for the time being,” Cuomo said on a call with reporters. “We’re evaluating both now and we will have an announcement on them in April.”
The new rule, which the Legislature can weigh in on since scaling back the governor’s pandemic powers earlier this month, affects casinos, pool halls, movie theaters, bowling alleys, gyms and fitness centers.
Scott Wexler of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association said the decision to leave eateries out of the curfew change “defied logic.”
“Food and beverage establishments have complied with every rule and regulation over the past year at great cost to them personally,” Wexler said in a statement. “We call on the state Legislature to end this illogical, harmful policy immediately.”
Wexler also joined Republicans who are pushing Democratic leaders to rescind Cuomo’s mandate prohibiting bars and restaurants from serving alcoholic beverages to patrons who do not order food.
The governor’s booze-and-food edict caused mass confusion last summer and prompted some witty tavern keepers to start serving “Cuomo chips” along with pints in an attempt to work around the rule.
Cuomo, meanwhile, announced that indoor fitness classes in the city can resume starting Monday. New York’s remaining “yellow” cluster zones, in parts of Washington Heights, the Bronx, Queens and Newburgh, Orange County, will expire the same day.
“So all clusters will be lifted,” the governor said. “That means any specific restrictions in those locations that had been in place will be lifted, and now will fall in line with overall state guidance.”
Neighborhoods that have remained in the designated zones, such as parts of Astoria, Queens, have seen restaurants and bars limited to seating a maximum of four people per table and residential gatherings still capped at 10 people.
Cuomo previously announced that residential gathering limits will climb to 25 people for outdoor get-togethers and social gathering limits will increase to 100 people indoors and 200 outdoors, up from the 50-person limit currently in place, on Monday as well.
“New York is moving forward with reopening our economy and looking forward to a post-COVID world,” the governor, who received a Johnson & Johnson immunization earlier in the day, said. “We know the vaccine is the weapon that defeats this invisible enemy and we are getting more shots in arms than ever before.”
