Internal meals will resume in New York on Friday, February 12, two days ahead of schedule, Governor Cuomo announced Monday morning.
Cuomo announced on January 29 that it would allow restaurants to welcome customers back on Valentine’s Day and with a 25% capacity.
The industry responded by asking why they had to wait so long and why they couldn’t reopen on Friday, February 12, to make the most of the extended holiday.
Restaurant owners have also filed lawsuits against Cuomo and the state, claiming that they were unfairly kept closed when other parts of the state and country were able to reopen.
On Monday, Cuomo said that COVID numbers in the city have finally dropped enough to reopen in-house restaurants.
He also unveiled ‘NY Pops Up’ – a plan to start the art reopening with 300 free pop-up events with celebrities, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Jackman.
The first of these events will take place on February 20 at the Javits Center and is a concert in honor of health professionals.
This is how New Yorkers have been dining in restaurants since December 14, when Cuomo ended indoor meals again after allowing it for months because COVID cases were popping up after Thanksgiving.
New York City has consistently had lower test positivity rates than other parts of the state and Manhattan has the lowest numbers for any district
It is not clear whether there will be an audience for this event.
“We will start with pop-ups and then move on to reopening the test sites,” he said.
The events will run from February to summer, he said, and will ‘pave the way’ to permanently reopen Broadway and other venues.
Cuomo used Buffalo Bills’ play-off game – where he allowed 7,000 fans to enter a stadium after doing quick COVID tests first – as proof of how it works.
“There were 7,000 people and no evidence of increased dissemination through tracking contacts.
“The stadium was open-air, but it had 7,000 people and if you can reopen using tests, go to the next step,” he said.
Marriages for up to 150 people can also be resumed in March, as long as everyone takes the COVID test first.
On Monday, the NYC Hospitality Alliance welcomed the news.
‘We congratulate Governor Cuomo for allowing internal meals to resume in New York City on Friday, rather than on Sunday the originally scheduled date.
“This will allow restaurants to generate much-needed revenue from Valentine’s Day weekend deals, much of which they would have missed because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that restaurants could reopen indoor meals sooner after receiving criticism from the industry and after restaurant owners filed lawsuits.
“Advanced openness and better health indicators are welcome news for the city’s decimated restaurant industry and also for lovers,” Executive Director Andrew Rigie told DailyMail.com on Monday.
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce also liked the news.
‘Brooklyn restaurants and industry workers are surviving by a thread, and with COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations declining across the city, we are supporting Governor Cuomo’s decision to anticipate the safe reopening of highly regulated in-house restaurants and with 25% occupancy for the previous Friday Valentine’s Day.
“Many Brooklyn residents will now be able to celebrate the holiday at a restaurant earlier this weekend, providing a few days’ advantage for small businesses and workers struggling to earn a little more money to support themselves and their families,” Randy Peers , Brooklyn President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce told DailyMail.com.
Cuomo allowed indoor meals in all other parts of the state months ago, although the New York City test’s positive rate was consistently low compared to other cities.
In Manhattan, the neighborhood with the most restaurants and bars per square kilometer, it has been lower for months than anywhere else in the city.
His only justification for keeping restaurants closed was that Manhattan has a dense population, where infections can spread more quickly.
But he refused to provide data to restaurant owners when they asked. On Monday, the test positivity rate in Manhattan was 3.48%. In the Bronx, it was 7%.