Indoor dining in New York City to be barred again as cases surge
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A restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, on Friday. The decision to suspend indoor dining is a crushing blow to the city's restaurant industry, an economic pillar that has been struggling all year.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
NEW YORK • Indoor dining will again be barred in New York City restaurants from tomorrow, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday, a reversal of the city's reopening that comes as officials try to halt the escalation of a second Covid-19 wave and avoid a wider shutdown.
The decision, which Mr Cuomo earlier suggested was all but certain, is a crushing blow to the city's restaurant industry, an economic pillar that has been struggling all year in the face of Covid-19 curbs and a national recession.
He acknowledged the hardship his decision was likely to cause and once more called on federal lawmakers to provide relief to the hospitality industry. Congressional leaders have so far failed to reach an agreement on a new stimulus package.
Even as he announced the new restriction, he provided data that showed restaurants and bars were likely not the main driver of new cases in the state, as they lagged far behind private gatherings.
Still, the governor portrayed the end of indoor dining in New York City as necessary, given new federal guidance, an increasing rate of virus transmission and the city's population density.
Mr Cuomo has warned that an anticipated surge in cases this winter threatens to overwhelm the medical system. Last month, while preparations have begun to distribute the first vaccine doses, virus-related hospitalisations in the state have more than tripled.
NYTIMES
