Gov. Cuomo: NYC Indoor Dining to Resume at 25% Capacity on Valentine’s Day

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will allow New York City restaurants to resume indoor dining at 25 percent capacity beginning on February 14, or Valentine’s Day, he announced Friday.

Based on the current trajectory, Cuomo said February 14 is a feasible goal, adding that establishments “want a period of time so they can notify workers, they can get up to speed for indoor dining, order supplies, et cetera”:

Update on indoor dining in NYC:

If positivity rates hold we will reopen indoor dining at 25% capacity on Valentine's Day – February 14.

In addition to reduced capacity, mandatory safety guidelines will be in place.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 29, 2021

The Democrat governor suspended indoor dining in the Big Apple in December due to unstable hospitalizations and rising infection rates.

“We’re going to close indoor dining in New York City on Monday,” Cuomo announced on December 11. The announcement came despite data showing that restaurants were not a primary source of infections.

“Of 46,000 cases between September and November, 1.43 percent could be linked to restaurants and bars, compared to 73.84 percent connected with private gatherings,” the New York Times reported at the time:

Here’s a chart that says COVID isn’t spreading at restaurants and yet we’re closing restaurants. Keep cheering, media fan club.

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) December 11, 2020

Cuomo remains under fire over a revealing report from New York Attorney General Letitia James, which indicated that New York may have undercounted coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes by “as much as 50 percent.”

As Breitbart News reported:

According to an online press release regarding the 76-page report, the discovery was made as AG James was “investigating nursing homes throughout New York state based on allegations of patient neglect and other concerning conduct that may have jeopardized the health and safety of residents and employees.”

Upon looking into the matter, it was discovered “a larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than the New York State Department of Health’s (DOH) published nursing home data reflected and may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent.”

“Thousands of coronavirus fatalities in New York have been connected to nursing homes. Cuomo’s administration has continued to battle criticism over its initial nursing home directive, which forced the facilities to accept positive coronavirus patients, thereby exposing the most vulnerable to the illness,” the report said.