Good news coming from New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo has given permission to restaurants to open indoor dining with 25 percent capacity starting this Valentine’s Day (February 14).
The announcement has come as a breather to struggling restaurants business in the city. This is the second time since COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 that the restaurants in NYC have been allowed to reopen the indoor dining section.
Last year in September, NYC restaurants were given heads up to open at 25 percent capacity only. But now with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out in the US and the number of positive cases declining, indoor dining can continue.
Addressing the media, the governor said, “The restaurants want a period of time so they can notify workers — they can get up to speed for indoor dining, order supplies, etc. So, we’re saying indoor dining — 25% — on Valentine’s Day.” Though it’s still debatable whether 25 percent capacity is actually enough or not for the restaurants to keep up with their business.
The stringent actions were taken on restaurants after a study showed that adults who tested positive for the virus were three times as likely to have visited a restaurant. Therefore the NYC government has decided to permit restaurants to open but with required limitations.
Till now, NYC has reported 597K Coronavirus positive cases and 26953 deaths.