New York City Indoor Dining to Return on Valentine’s Day

Restaurants will be allowed to open at 25 percent capacity and will continue to follow rules set by the state in September that include requiring temperature checks at the door, spreading tables apart, and having at least one member of a dining party leave contact information in case contact tracing is necessary. 

Cuomo also announced that wedding parties of up to 150 people would be allowed to resume on March 15.

“I don’t want to create any pressure for anyone,” Cuomo said during a press conference. “Here’s an idea you might want to consider: Restaurants are open on Valentine’s Day. You could make a reservation now. You propose on Valentine’s Day and then you can have the wedding ceremony on March 15.”

The state first banned indoor dining in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread throughout the city, forcing eateries to switch to takeout- or delivery-only models. Since then, many struggled to pay rent, more than 200,000 workers were laid off, and thousands of businesses are not expected to reopen.

As the number of positive coronavirus infections began to slow, the state allowed indoor dining to return at a reduced capacity on Sept. 30.

However, the city saw another surge of coronavirus cases after Thanksgiving, and Cuomo banned indoor dining a second time starting on Dec. 14. Many warned the second shutdown would be the death knell for the already-reeling restaurant industry and locations like three-star seafood mecca Le Bernardin almost immediately laid off staff.

Cuomo said on Friday that the city’s positivity rate hit a recent peak of 7.1 percent, but that it had dropped to 4.9 percent as of Thursday, leading to the return of indoor dining.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the trade group New York City Hospitality Alliance, praised Cuomo’s decision but questioned waiting until Valentine’s Day for restaurants to reopen.

“It’s good news that Gov. Cuomo heard the voice of New York City’s struggling restaurant industry and is lifting the ban on indoor dining, similar to other major cities that reopened in recent weeks,” Rigie said in a statement. “However, restaurants are broken-hearted that they need to wait two weeks until Valentine’s Day to open at only 25 percent occupancy in the city, while permitting 50 percent occupancy in dining rooms around the rest of the state, where infections and hospitalization rates from COVID-19 are higher. Restaurants in the city are ready to safely open now.”

In his press conference, Cuomo said the delay in reopening was to give restaurants time to rehire staff and gather supplies first.