New York City has the second lowest COVID test positivity rate of anywhere in New York State and Manhattan has the lowest rate of the five boroughs, but restaurants remain closed and Cuomo warns of a total shutdown in January, prompting more businesses would paralyze.
The statewide positive COVID test rate is 5.1 percent, but it ranges wildly from 8.1 percent in the Finger Lakes to 4 percent in NYC. Manhattan’s rate is 2.77 percent, but Staten Island is 5.1 percent, and the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens are all in between.
Despite the huge variants, indoor dining was banned in NYC on Mondays. A massive snowstorm on Wednesday also put an end to outdoor dining. Restorers say it is the last nail in the coffin for the city. Eating indoors was prohibited from March 16 to September 30 – a total of 28 weeks.
Outdoor dining was not allowed to begin until mid-summer, on June 22, but with strict rules.
Only 0.02 percent of all people in hospitals with COVID in the state are in NYC, but it has the toughest restrictions in the state
The statewide positivity rate of the COVID test is 5.1 percent, but it varies wildly from 8.1 percent in the Finger Lakes to 4 percent in NYC. Manhattan’s rate is 2.77 percent, but Staten Island is 5.1 percent and the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens are all in between.
The restaurant and bar industry in New York City provided 325,000 jobs prior to March. That number dropped to 90,000 when the food was closed in and out.
About 100,000 people have been hired again since the reopening, but the state’s decision last week to end eating inside now, for at least two weeks, and eat outside on Wednesday due to an impending snowstorm has forced many to shut up.
Many restaurateurs say that during the festive season, they can no longer afford to pay for things just for takeout and delivery.
Gov. Cuomo even admitted on Wednesday that New York City had one of the least serious problems.
“NYC is actually one of the lowest rates,” he said.
He further stressed that the problem varies even more within New York City.
Take a look at these variants in New York City. Staten Island is higher than Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, there’s no reason.
Photos of the Times Square protest on Tuesday, where dozens of protesters opposed the governor’s decision
Dozens gathered in Times Square on Tuesday to protest the governor’s decision
Among the people protesting the governor’s decision include some of the Real Housewives of New York City
“It’s not that busy, not that close, there’s no reason for that.”
On Tuesday, crowds gathered in Times Square to protest its ban on indoor dining.
Last week, after the decision was first made, restaurant owners told DailyMail.com how it was going to bankrupt them.
Robert Mahon, who owns a group of restaurants including Toro Loco and Broadstone, called it a ‘disgrace’.
“There is no scientific data at all in this decision making,” he said.
He asked why Albany – where the contamination rate is above 7 percent – can continue to eat indoors while Manhattan – where it is less than 3 percent – can’t.
Short Stories’ Ash Deshmukh told DailyMail.com after Cuomo’s announcement on Friday, “ We can’t survive outside and leave alone.
The December 4th cover of New York Magazine is devoted to the hundreds of businesses – including many restaurants – that had to close
This will be a 70 percent hit on revenues that are just beginning to grow.
‘We are not exempt from fixed costs and can no longer earn to pay them off.’
He said they were equally concerned about the increase in COVID cases, both in the interests of staff and customer safety, but that the decision put the industry “in a bad place.”
Eddie Fraunces, owner of Fraunces Tavern and Lovelace Gin and Cocktail Bar, said he will now have to lay off half of his remaining staff as a result of the decision.
‘For us we made an adjustment to go online and sell merchandise.
‘We’re going to try to stay open as much as possible, but we’ll have to fire 50 percent of our staff.
‘I put that off until after Christmas.
‘In March we had more than two restaurants, 100 employees. Now we have 45. That will drop to about 20, ”he said.
He reiterated that the decision made no sense given Manhattan’s low rates.
‘The reason they gave in the beginning was that it was due to population density, but if it did, our infection rate would be much higher.
In Manhattan it is 2.3 percent, but in Long Island and Westchester it is higher, but can they continue with a capacity of 25 percent? It does not make any sense.
All the restaurants wanted to do was struggle through to the vaccine and we would have survived, but now at least 50 percent will have to close, especially if there is no PPP. I know many of my friends say this is the nail in the box.
“If we got PPP from the federal government, I wouldn’t have to go to my staff today to fire them.
“We could keep them going until we got through the pandemic. However, this is getting insane. The number of people going to claim unemployment today … it will be huge, ‘he said.
He added that he felt a responsibility to tell the staff now that they had lost their job rather than dragging it off, because it took so long for the unemployment checks to go out in April.