ALBANY (WCBS 880) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that indoor dining will pause in New York City beginning next week.
The governor said the state’s rate of transmission has risen over the last week to a point where one infected person will now infect 1.3 additional people. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week did a “caution on indoor dining.”
“In New York City, you put the CDC caution on indoor dining together with the rate of transmission and the density and the crowding, that is a bad situation,” the governor said. “The hospitalizations have continued to increase in New York City. We said that we would watch it, if the hospital rate didn’t stabilize, we would close indoor dining. It has not, we are going to close indoor dining on Monday.”
Outdooring dining and take out can continue in the city.
In New York City, the available hospital bed capacity is down to 19%. The percentage of available ICU beds in the city was at 25%.
Prior to the governor's announcement, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he would support the governor's decision to end indoor dining.
"I support him 100% because we have to protect against the worst," de Blasio said. "The worst is the virus just grows and grows, that more and more people get infected, our hospitals start to get stressed and then get to the point where they can't provide the service that people need. That puts lives in danger."
De Blasio said if that keeps happening, it'll take the economy longer to recover.
The governor said the state is going to be watching indoor dining data outside of New York City and in the state’s orange zones. They will analyze that data and determine if restaurants need to reduce capacity or stop indoor dining elsewhere as well.
Cuomo acknowledged that the shutdown will harm restaurants financially and urged the federal government to step up.
“The federal government must provide relief to these bars and restaurants in this new package,” Cuomo said. “We’ll do what we can in New York.”
New York State is extending the moratorium on commercial evictions so if a business can’t pay the rent, they won’t be evicted, the governor added.
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Cuomo says gyms and salons are not spreading the virus as they previously were and is allowing them to remain open in orange zones. Though, capacity will be limited to 25% (down from 33%) and staff testing will become a weekly requirement (instead of bi-weekly).
The news came as the governor also announced that the state vaccine task force has unanimously approved of the Pfizer vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration’s final approval could also come on Friday and New York might receive the first shipment of 170,000 doses this weekend.
“The New York State Clinical Advisory Task Force has approved unanimously the FDA decision to go forward with the vaccine, so that's good news, and we notified the FDA of that. Obviously, there was no delay whatsoever in the timing and New Yorkers will have more confidence,” Gov. Cuomo said.
Healthcare workers will be the first to receive the vaccine, according to the governor’s distribution plan and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition to the Pfizer doses, Cuomo said New York will receive 346,000 doses from Moderna the week of Dec. 21.
A total of 5,321 New Yorkers were now hospitalized, and 87 people died on Thursday from the disease.
Cuomo said the numbers were not good and has once again urged people to continue to practice social distancing, mask wearing and all other health precautions, especially as we head into the winter months.
“It has been quite the journey and the journey isn’t over. It’s not really going to be over until the summer when we hit critical mass with the vaccination, and we have to calibrate our way through the journey. We change strategy as the virus changes, as the season changes,” the governor said.
Attorney James Mermigis, who represented several city restaurants in their effort to get indoor dining back, said if the governor were to pull the plug again on indoor dining, the timing couldn't be worse.
"This is a time of year where restaurants make their most money. Shutting down on Monday would put half of the restaurants in Manhattan out of business," he told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.
One of those restaurants is Il Bacco in Little Neck, Queens, which is located right at the Nassau County border.
Owner Tina Maria Oppedisano points out restaurants in Nassau would still be able to off indoor tables, putting her restaurant at a disadvantage.
"I understand that there's a spike, and I understand that we all need to be safe and healthy, that goes without saying, but as long as we are conducting our businesses properly and efficiently and safely, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to conduct them," she said. "Especially right before the holiday season."
"A complete shutdown of indoor dining really would kill my business," said George Cosentino who owns three restaurants in Park Slope and one in northern New Jersey. "Place like Long Island go from 50% to 25%, they can still survive, New York City goes from 25% to zero. I would rather the whole state be treated the same."
Mermigis said he wants to see proof that socially-distanced indoor dining causes the virus to spread.
He is threatening another lawsuit.
Cuomo meanwhile said restaurants have been compensated in other ways to balance the loss of indoor dining.
"Yes, there will be an economic hardship for the 25% to zero, but we have compensated in other ways," Cuomo said, pointing to the success of outdoor dining and take out services. "And this is a situation that has affected every business community, not just restaurants, every business community and every family, and we're all doing what we can... We're asking everyone to hold on, the end is in sight, but we still have to get there."