New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Monday that indoor dining in New York City restaurants may have to be shut down again if hospitalizations do not plateau in the days ahead.
“We will manage the hospital system as well as it can be managed, but if you’re going to overwhelm the hospital system, then we have no choice to go to lockdown,” he said Monday.
In his daily briefing, Cuomo said that much like in the spring wave of the coronavirus pandemic, restrictions will be reimplemented in any region where hospitals are at risk of reaching 90 percent capacity over a three-week period.
State restrictions currently limit restaurants in the city to 25 percent capacity for indoor dining. Restaurants are open at 50 percent capacity in the rest of the state. The further restrictions threatened by Cuomo would shut down indoor dining in the city entirely and reduce it to 25 percent capacity in the remainder of the state.
Cuomo said the state will make a decision on whether to implement the restrictions by the end of the week.
New York’s cases have been on the rise in recent weeks after the early epicenter of the virus reduced rates over the summer. Last week, Cuomo warned of the potential for spikes in the winter.
“We’re all now happy and cheery and we’re going to come together and we’re doing gift buying,” Cuomo said last Monday. “All those things that the holiday season brings, they all increase social activity, they all increase mobility and they will all increase viral transmission.”