COURIER LIFE, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021 23
Indoor dining
capacity
expanded to
35 percent
Maja Ruszczyk tends bar at Karczma restauraunt on Feb. 12,
when eateries across the city were fi rst allowed to reopen
at 25 percent capacity. File photo by Caroline Ourso
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Indoor dining in
New York City is now
expanded to allow bars
and restaurants to seat
patrons at 35 percent capacity
— marking a 10
percent increase since
inside seating resumed
on Feb. 12, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo announced.
While the eateries
in the rest of the state
are allowed to open indoors
at 50 percent of
their normal capacity,
the state has slowly allowed
eateries in the
Five Boroughs to reopen
as COVID-19 case
counts have fallen in recent
weeks.
In New York City,
the positive test rate
hovers around 8 percent
— marking a decline
from the “postholiday
surge” in early
January, when around
10 percent of all administered
tests returned a
positive result.
Now, after pushing
for more relaxed limits,
restaurateurs can seat
more patrons inside,
giving them a lifeline
amid a yearlong period
of economic hardship
brought on by the pandemic.
The new 35 percent
limit puts the city on
the same page as restaurants
in New Jersey
— which, Cuomo said,
had been making New
York’s restrictions ineffective,
as city dwellers
had been crossing the
Hudson River to dine in
the Garden State.
“What’s happening
now is people in New
York City — Staten Island,
Manhattan — are
going to New Jersey, to
those restaurants, so
it’s not really accomplishing
a purpose,” the
governor said.
Cuomo hinted that
the limits could continue
to be raised to
match the rest of the
state, provided case
counts continue to decline
— but state health
offi cials would be taking
a more conservative
approach to the Five
Boroughs.
“Obviously we’re
more sensitive to New
York City because of
the density and the
concentration and the
history,” he said.
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