Cuomo Imposes Curfew on Restaurants, Bars & Gyms amid COVID-19 Uptick
With COVID-19 cases on the rise throughout New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday new restrictions that will be placed on bars, restaurants, gyms, and residential gatherings to ease the spread of the virus.
Starting Friday, bars, restaurants, gyms, and fitness centers will be required to close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Restaurants will still be allowed to provide curbside, food-only pick-up or delivery service after 10 p.m., but will not be allowed to serve alcohol to go.
The rules also apply to any establishment with a state liquor license, Cuomo said, with local governments in charge of enforcing these new mandates.
“If you look at where the cases are coming from, if you do the contact tracing, you’ll see they’re coming from three main areas: establishments where alcohol is served, gyms, and indoor gatherings at private homes,” Cuomo explained. “The reason we have been successful in reducing the spread in New York is we have been a step ahead of COVID.”
Furthermore, Cuomo stated that indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences will be limited to no more than 10 people. He said the limit will be implemented due to the prevalence of COVID spread from small indoor gatherings, including recent Halloween parties.
Cuomo added that gatherings have become a major cause of cluster activity across the state.
“The rules are only as good as the enforcement,” Cuomo said. “There are only two fundamental truths in this situation: it’s individual discipline and it’s government enforcement. Period. End of sentence. I need the local governments to enforce this.”
