Economic recovery is on the menu as Cuomo vows to ‘have a plan’ for NYC restaurants by end of the week
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo will pitch a plan by the end of the week that could bring indoor dining back to the city as New York begins lifting COVID restrictions across the state.
The governor, who said just two days ago that he was “not contemplating” reversing the current ban on serving customers inside, said Wednesday he will discuss the issue with health officials, lawmakers and business owners.
“I fully understand how difficult it is that they’re closed, not just for the restaurants but all the people who are employed there,” he said during a briefing in Albany. “On the flip side is how fast this virus can take off. But we’ll have a plan by the end of the week.”
Cuomo has faced growing pressure over the issue as several other major cities have allowed eateries to welcome diners back in recent weeks, including Chicago and Philadelphia.
Indoor dining was shut down in the city in early December as the state saw a resurgence of COVID cases and hospitalizations.
Restaurant owners have balked at the restrictions, arguing in statements and lawsuits that the state’s own data showed private gatherings were more likely to spread COVID than eating out.
The state is likely to allow restaurants to seat at only 25% capacity, which was the limit during the two-month reprieve from the all-out ban last year.
While eateries upstate are capped at 50%, Cuomo said he’s not ready to lift a 10 p.m. curfew that applies statewide to restaurants that serve alcohol, arguing that late-night revelry could become a problem.
“That is something we’re looking at, but not at this time,” he said. “When you keep the restaurants open late that tends to be more problematic, tends to be more crowded, tends to be more drinking.”
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Peter Madonia, chairman of the Bronx’s Belmont Business Improvement District, said time is of the essence with both the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day on the horizon.
“We are ready to reopen indoor dining now and help give a boost to our struggling industry,” he said.
Cuomo also announced that the state is also lifting most color-coded microcluster zone designations, including those on Staten Island, that have limited schools, businesses and gatherings in areas with high infection rates.
Five yellow zones, the least restrictive designation, will remain with two in the Bronx, which the governor warned is still seeing infections at a greater rate than the rest of the city, one each in northern Manhattan and Queens, and one in Newburgh, Orange County.
During an appearance on MSNBC earlier Wednesday, the governor touted a popup art project set to start next month and said the city just wouldn’t be the same without its culinary and cultural offerings.
“If you take away from New York City, restaurants, arts, what’s the point of New York City?” he said. “The cities survive because of the density and synergy with culture and arts.”
The governor also praised President Biden’s plan to increase vaccine allocations to states by 16% starting this week, but said more is needed to keep up with demand and to immunize New Yorkers in a timely fashion.
“We could do literally millions and millions of doses in a month,” he said. “We will never get that level of supply because the federal government won’t get that level of production.”
One potential hiccup that may hamper plans to kick-start the economy and expand vaccinations could be new strains of COVID-19 that are increasingly being found in the state.
The governor said that 42 cases of a highly contagious variant first discovered in the United Kingdom have been discovered in the state so far.
“All I can tell you is, we watch and we adapt,” Cuomo said. “If the facts change, I have no problem looking the people of this state in the eye and saying the facts changed, our plan has to change.”
