NYC Restaurants Can Finally Resume Indoor Dining, Cuomo Says

NEW YORK CITY — New York City restaurants can resume indoor dining starting Sept. 30, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

Cuomo's long-awaited decision Wednesday sets a 25 percent capacity limit for restaurants, along with other strict health standards designed to stop the coronavirus's spread.

The state will reassess the guidelines by Nov. 1 and could increase capacity to 50 percent if the city's infection rate does not increase, Cuomo said.

And compliance with health standards — a sticking point for Cuomo as calls for reopening dining rooms grew — will be partly be enforced by asking city dwellers to report capacity violations by phone or text.

"New Yorkers themselves will help with compliance," he said. "New Yorkers will keep New Yorkers safe."

The announcement came just hours of Mayor Bill de Blasio saying he expected a decision to be made as soon as this week. He issued a statement after Cuomo's announcement that stated the plan puts "health and safety first."

The city also will “reassess” indoor dining if its positive rate reaches above 2 percent, according to the statement — a standard not outlined in Cuomo’s announcement.

"Science will guide our decision-making as we continue to monitor progress and health care indicators over the next three weeks to ensure a safe reopening," de Blasio said in the statement. "This may not look like the indoor dining that we all know and love, but it is progress for restaurant workers and all New Yorkers."

So what will indoor dining look like?

Cuomo outlined the safety standards — temperature checks for all customers at the door, no bar seating, masks worn at all times while not at tables, enhanced air filtration and circulation, and midnight closing times.

The standards also require restaurants to get contact information from at least one person at a table — a mayor's office release stated that will go to the city's Test + Trace program.

Cuomo said the state will closely monitor compliance and the infection rate. He said he'll hit the "pause button" if they respectively dip or spike.

Compliance will also be enforced by an existing State Police and State Liquor Authority task force, as well as 400 city code enforcement officers, Cuomo said. He said people can anonymously report violation by calling 833-208-4160 or texting "VIOLATION" to 855-904-5036.

"I believe in New Yorkers' ability to do the right thing," he said. "That is not blind faith — that is a result of the experience we've had going through COVID."

Restaurateurs have been increasingly vocal — and litigious to the tune of $2 billion — for a return to indoor dining in the city. Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement that doing so will help save those “vital small businesses and jobs.”

“We’re thankful to Governor Cuomo for announcing a return to indoor dining with a blueprint for future expansion,” Rigie said. “Restaurants are essential to New York’s economic and social fabric, and indoor dining is a key component to the industry’s recovery.”

Cuomo’s office issued an additional statement following his conference that acknowledged the struggle for the city’s restaurant industry as indoor dining was effectively in perpetual limbo.

"This is good news and the right step forward, especially for restaurant owners and staff who have been struggling through this time,” Cuomo said in the statement. “But it is up to all of us to ensure compliance and the health and safety of those around us."

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.