New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that indoor dining in New York City would be closed while simultaneously demanding a federal relief package for the Big Apple’s bars and restaurants.
The Democrat told reporters that he understood his actions are “wiping out business” in an attempt to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, but it is a necessary move to keep hospitals at 85% capacity.
“We’re gonna close indoor dining in New York City on Monday,” he said. “Outdoor dining and take-out continues. Outside of New York City and in the orange zones, we’re gonna watch the indoor dining data. The numbers are down in the chart, but we’re gonna watch over this weekend, and we’ll make any adjustments next week if the data suggests.”
The decision comes in conjunction with new rules for businesses in ever-shifting red, orange, yellow COVID-19 zones.
Areas will now be designated orange zones, for example, “if they are at 85 percent hospital capacity and a positivity rate of at least 4 percent for 10 days or the Department of Health determines hospitalization rates to be unacceptably high,” a local NBC affiliate reported.
Red zone shutdowns within the state are triggered when hospitals hit 90% capacity within 21 days.
“[The] federal government must provide relief to these bars and restaurants in this next package,” Mr. Cuomo continued. “I understand battling COVID. I also understand you’re wiping out businesses.”
Statewide hospitalizations tallied 5,321 on Friday.
BREAKING: NYC indoor dining CLOSED effective Monday with increasing rate of transmission and hospitalizations #nbc4ny https://t.co/jdrdSs6SxL pic.twitter.com/h2wRv9b8oS
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) December 11, 2020
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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