Indoor Dining Could Be Off Table In NYC Until Coronavirus Vaccine

NEW YORK CITY — Indoor dining in New York City is off the menu until a “huge step forward” is served up against the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

“I pray for and expect a vaccine in the spring that will allow us all to get more back to normal,” he said. “I will absolutely tell you… we’re going to keep looking for that situation where we can push down the virus enough where we would have more ability to address indoor dining. We’ll have more to say on that in the coming days. But it would take a huge step forward to get to that point, that’s the truth.”

De Blasio tying indoor dining to an as-yet-undeveloped COVID-19 vaccine likely will provide no comfort to New York City restaurateurs who have seen business crater in the pandemic.

They’ve watched all eateries open up across the state — often just across city limits — while de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo repeatedly 86’d calls to let them reopen their dining rooms.

The health risks, specifically in New York City, are too great to reopen restaurants’ indoor spaces, Cuomo and de Blasio have said.

But a coalition of restaurant owners recently argued that the city’s health measures are good enough to reopen. Likewise, the New York Daily News editorial board argued for a “controlled experiment” pilot program that would allow some restaurants to reopen in the city.

A reporter on Monday told de Blasio, with perhaps some exaggeration, that restaurant owners are telling him 99 percent of eateries could close once the city’s outdoor dining program shuts down Oct. 31.

We’ll all only be eating at Applebee’s, the reporter said.

“I think New York City has so many great neighborhood restaurants that I don’t think in the end we’re only going to be going to Applebee’s, I really don’t,” de Blasio said.

De Blasio acknowledged how tough the situation is for restaurants and their workers. But he said the question remains whether it is safe to reopen.

“So far, we have not had that moment, honestly,” he said. “We’ve been real straightforward about it. We have not had the opportunity to do it safely. We’re going to keep looking for sure.”