What to know
- A state Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a number of Erie County restaurants that had sued the state for their orange cluster zone designation; the judge issued a preliminary injunction
- Governor Andrew Cuomo’s legal counsel says the state is reviewing the decision, with which it strongly disagrees; Meanwhile, it allows the orange zone restaurants to operate under the yellow zone rules
- Since Cuomo’s last update, there have been seven orange cluster zone areas in the state, including parts of Westchester County and NYC, where indoor dining is prohibited regardless of cluster rules
New York has temporarily allowed indoor dining in clustered orange zones following a state Supreme Court decision this week in favor of a number of Erie County restaurants that had sued the restriction, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s legal counsel said Thursday.
That means parts of Westchester County that fell under those mid-level restrictions since mid-December can dine indoors – at least temporarily. Areas of Staten Island have also been subject to orange zone rules since that time, but Cuomo has banned indoor dining throughout New York City, regardless of its cluster zone program. It’s not clear how the state’s ruling would affect that.
Up to four people per table can now dine indoors in seven so-called “orange zones” in counties with some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases or hospitalizations in the state: including Monroe County in the Finger Lakes.
A number of restaurants in the state, including many in New York City, had filed suit over the ban on in-home dining, but Supreme Court Justice Henry Nowak issued a preliminary injunction against its execution in the Erie case on Wednesday.
Under Cuomo’s cluster zone rules, orange zones – the second most restricted in the row of three – completely prohibit indoor dining and limit outdoor dining to four people per table. Schools also move completely remote unless they test; Close risky non-essential businesses and meetings are limited to a maximum of 10 people.
In his decision, Nowak held that Erie County restaurants that were in orange zones could revert to the indoor dining rules that apply to yellow zones, which allow dining, but only with a maximum of four people per table.
Nowak said he could find “no evidence that the state had a rational basis for designating parts of Erie County as an orange zone” and that the restaurants would suffer “irreparable damage” without the warrant.
As per Cuomo’s latest guidelines, last updated in mid-December, orange zone restrictions apply to areas with a positivity rate of 4 percent or higher for 10 consecutive days and the area has reached 85 percent hospital capacity or The Ministry of Health notes that the area has an unacceptably high number of hospital admissions.
As of Thursday, Erie County has a rolling 6.3 percent positivity rate. The governor’s website does not break down hospital admission data by county, but data from the state shows that no region in the state has reached the 85 percent hospital capacity. That would lead to more aggressive closure measures. As of Thursday, Western New York, the Erie County region, had 32 percent and 36 percent of hospital and intensive care beds available, respectively, based on a seven-day moving average.
Daily percentage of positive tests by New York area
Gov. Andrew Cuomo divides the state into 10 regions for testing purposes and tracks positivity rates to identify potential hot spots. Here is the latest tracking data by region and for the five boroughs. Click here for the latest results at provincial level
It was not immediately clear whether the Ministry of Health was the reason for the restrictions of the orange zone. Erie County has confirmed nearly 50,000 COVID cases to date, more than 69 percent of the 71,273 confirmed cases in the five counties that make up the Western New York region since March.
Cuomo’s office says it is revising the ruling. The parties will have to return to court to determine whether the order becomes final.
In the meantime, Gibson said the state would allow all Orange Zone restaurants to operate under Yellow Zone rules “to ensure uniformity and fairness.”
“We disagree with the court’s decision and its impact on public health, as federal CDC data clearly shows that indoor dining increases the spread of COVID-19,” Gibson said. “From the start of this pandemic, the state has acted on the basis of facts and the advice of public health experts, and we will continue that approach.”
Since the last update of Cuomo, there are seven orange cluster zone areas in the state, including Erie County’s. Parts of Staten Island, Westchester County, Monroe County, Chemung County, Onondaga County, and Niagara County (also in the Western New York region) are classified as orange zones.
The NYC Hospitality Alliance, which represents the city’s restaurants, among others, has condemned Cuomo in light of the ruling for its ongoing ban on indoor dining.
The court’s preliminary decision and the governor’s action to lift indoor dining restrictions in all ‘orange zones’ makes the status of the indoor dining ban in New York City all the more shameful and destructive for thousands of restaurants. in the five boroughs, especially when our infection and hospital admissions are lower than in most counties in the state where eating is allowed indoors at 50 percent occupancy, “said Executive Director, Andrew Rigie, and counsel, Robert. Bookman, in a joint statement Thursday.
“The continuation of the ban on indoor dining in New York City is unrelated to any data and criteria formulated by the state and must now be ended,” they said.