Mayor Bill de Blasio Warns NYC May Face ‘Full Shutdown’ in Coming Weeks

Amy Furr

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday the city may soon face additional restrictions and could go back to a total shutdown.

“There’s the potential of having to do a full pause, a full shutdown, in the coming weeks, because we can’t let this kind of momentum go,” he said during an interview on CNN.

“We’re seeing the kind of level of infection with the coronavirus we haven’t seen since May and we have got to stop that momentum — or else, our hospital system will be threatened,” the mayor continued.

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said he would stop all indoor dining in New York City even though contact tracing does not show restaurants as being a primary source of coronavirus transmission, Breitbart News reported:

Indoor restaurant capacity in the city was previously capped at 25 percent, and the establishments in other areas of the state are operating at 50 percent capacity. However, contact tracing data shows that restaurants are not the primary source of transmission of the virus, identifying the establishments as the “fifth main source of new infections,” falling behind private gatherings.

In reaction to the indoor dining suspension, Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy accused city officials of stealing “the right to earn a living”:

“[Small business owners have] been as creative as you can be to save their livelihood, to save what they’ve spent decades of blood, sweat, and tears building,” Portnoy continued:

They’ve done whatever. They’ve scratched and clawed, and now a few politicians New York City is like, “Eh, you’re done! We’re shutting it down! No indoor dining.” … It’s insanity. … I can’t believe in this country what I consider the most basic right of them all — the right to earn a living — the right to earn a livelihood is now being stolen.

In a tweet Monday morning, de Blasio announced the coronavirus vaccine had arrived in New York City but added in a subsequent post, “The vaccine may be here, but we can’t let our guard down”:

 

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