NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Indoor dining is on track to return to New York City on Valentine’s Day. Many restaurant owners said that is too late, but some local officials wonder if it could be too soon.
City Council member Mark Levine, chair of the Council Committee on Health, said the current messaging from those in charge needs to change.
“Because the truth is this is still a very precarious moment for the city,” Levine said.
He said he’s not sure he would have made the same call as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced Friday that indoor dining could return at 25% capacity in the five boroughs if the infection rate continues on a downward trajectory.
Levine’s main concern is the more transmissible U.K. variant of the coronavirus. Even as New York’s infection rate declines, “there are more and more cases of the variant, known as B117, being detected in this city,” Levine said.
“That represents a dangerous uncertainty right now,” he said. “We’ve seen from elsewhere around the world that this really does pose a serious threat.”
Levine said it’s now a battle between the variant and the vaccine.
“But, unfortunately, we’ve got less than 2% of people in New York City who have gotten their second vaccine shot,” he said.
At a minimum, Levine thinks restaurant workers should have been included for vaccine eligibility if restaurants are reopening indoors.
“If you’re going to be asking restaurant workers to take on additional risks, they should be vaccinated,” he said.
And with 400 to 500 New Yorkers dying every week, Levine said this should not be accepted as a new baseline.
“This, in any other situation, would be considered an extraordinary crisis of historic proportions,” he said.