New York City to Raise Indoor Dining Capacity to 75% in May
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Friday that indoor dining capacity in New York City would increase to 75 percent in the first week of May.
“After a long and incredibly difficult fight, New York State is winning the war against Covid-19, and that means it’s time to loosen some restrictions put in place to protect the public health and help our local businesses,” Cuomo said.
He added that capacity in hair salons would rise to 75 percent, and that gym capacity would rise to 50 percent as of May 15.
My full statement on expanding indoor dining capacity for New York City: pic.twitter.com/qtTPqH9C02
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 30, 2021
The announcement came after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Thursday statement that he was targeted July 1 as a date for the city to fully reopen. “We are ready for stores to open, for businesses to open, offices, theaters, full strength,” de Blasio said in an interview on MSNBC.
Cuomo, who has had an adversarial relationship with de Blasio, immediately criticized the remark, telling NBC later in the day it was “irresponsible” to make projections. “July 1 — you have May, June, what happens in May, what happens in June? I’d like to get the hopeful reopening date before that. I don’t want to wait that long. I think if we do what we have to do we can reopen earlier.”
The reopening comes after many dining establishments already went out of business. More than 1,200 New York City restaurants permanently closed their doors between January and July 2020, according to the city comptroller’s office.
