Gov. Cuomo is about to lift pandemic restrictions on restaurants

  

Patch

 A long-awaited plan to reopen indoor dining in New York City could be served later this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The New York City-only ban on indoor dining amid coronavirus fears has created difficulties for its restaurant industry, Cuomo acknowledged on Wednesday.

He said he'll be talking with local officials and restaurant leaders about potentially reopening and what percent capacity.

"We'll have an announcement by the end of the week but we're looking at going back to the 25 percent… would be the question and how and when you do that," he said.

The coming reopening plan came as welcome news to Andrew Rigie, executive director for the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a restaurant industry group that has pushed for bringing back indoor dining.

Rigie, in a statement, argued that limited occupancy indoor dining has been a "minor factor" for spreading the coronavirus. Instead, the full shutdown has permanently shuttered thousands of bars and restaurants and put more than 140,000 New Yorkers out of work, he said.

"We're happy that Governor Cuomo heard the voice of New York City's decimated restaurant industry and we look forward to working towards a plan that hopefully reopens indoor dining soon," he said. "As the Governor acknowledged, it's paramount these decisions are based on data. And, because New York City has lower infection and hospitalization rates than nearly all counties in the rest of the state where indoor dining is open at 50% occupancy, our city's restaurants must be treated equitably and reopened safely."

 

Queens Patch 

 

 Color-coded coronavirus cluster "zones" will disappear across the state, after a drop in COVID-19 cases following the post-holiday spike, but Forest Hills will still be subject to yellow-zone restrictions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday he would eliminate nearly all of New York State's COVID-19 cluster zones and their associated restrictions. Among the five zones not included: the yellow zone that covers a swath of Western and Central Queens.

Yellow "precautionary" zones are the third tier of Cuomo's cluster action initiative to tackle local coronavirus spikes, with orange zones bearing even tighter restrictions and red zones drawing the most severe measures.

Under the "yellow zone" designation, restaurants may offer indoor and outdoor dining with a maximum of four people per table, gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed and houses of worship can operate at 50-percent capacity. Schools must conduct 20-percent weekly testing of in-person students and faculty.