Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Indoor Dining Will Shut Down In New York City Starting Monday
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 11, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Peter Foley/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 11, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
As has been expected for a few weeks now, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that indoor dining will be paused in New York City starting next week because of concerns about hospitalization rates after a surge in COVID cases recently.
"In New York City, you put the CDC caution on indoor dining together with the rate of transmission and the density and the crowding, that is a bad situation," Cuomo said during a press conference today. "The hospitalizations have continued to increase in NYC. We said we would watch it, and if the hospitalization rate didn't stabilize we would close indoor dining. It has not. We're going to close indoor dining in the city on Monday."
Outdoor dining and takeout will continue in the city. Outside of NYC and in orange zones, the state will continue to monitor hospitalization data and adjust indoor dining in those regions as necessary.
"Federal government must provide relief to bars and restaurants in this next package," Cuomo added. "I understand battling COVID. I also understand you're wiping out businesses." Cuomo said the state would extend the commercial eviction moratorium so businesses won't be evicted if they can't pay rent because of pandemic.
According to the state's data, NYC hospitals have less than 20% of beds and 25% of ICU beds available, based on a seven-day rolling average. There are currently 1,668 patients hospitalized in the city, and 5,321 people hospitalized in the entire state. NYC currently has a COVID hospitalization rate of .02% of its population, lower than other regions in the state.
Cuomo said today that all hospitals must remain under 85% capacity, either by adding capacity or reducing elective surgeries. On Monday, he said that regions with hospitals that reach 90% capacity would trigger a shutdown of non-essential businesses similar to the PAUSE plan in the spring, the same restrictions as those of a red zone.
Cuomo also presented a chart that provided more data on where new infections have been happening across the state recently; according to that information, 74% of new infections have been caused by private household gatherings. Indoor dining has accounts for about 1.43%, putting it in the top five areas of spread for the state.
Because they are not major areas of concern, gyms and salons will be allowed to continue operating in orange zones with lowered capacity from 33% to 25%, and increased testing.
Governor Cuomo
In November, calls to end indoor dining altogether began after Governor Cuomo announced a curfew order for bars and restaurants that required them to close at 10 p.m. Although the city didn't provide any data directly linking restaurants and bars to upticks in cases, there have been studies that show indoor venues caused up to 80% of infections in the early months of the pandemic.
The closure of indoor dining is yet another devastating blow to an industry that has been integral to the city's economy. Many restaurants have already been forced to close for good while others are scraping by. Since the end of September, city restaurants have been allowed to be open indoors at 25% capacity, less than the 50% capacity permitted in other parts of the state. Owners have said that takeout and outdoor dining, while popular, would not be enough to sustain their businesses through the winter.
Several restaurant workers told Gothamist that they were expecting this news. "We're planning [as if] it will probably close down, the way spikes are going," said Jackie Arenas, a general manager at Lady Bird and Saramsam in the East Village recently told Gothamist. "We think it won't be for long, we think it'll be for a month or two, and we think next year will be better," he added.
Knowing that indoor dining might be placed on pause, restaurants have been scrambling to come up with ways to attract customers to dine outdoors in the colder weather. That includes buying heaters, constructing various tents and adding plastic bubbles, and trying to get New Yorkers to "think of it like you’re actually going out to tailgate, so dress appropriately."
The NYC Hospitality Alliance released a new report recently that found 88 percent of respondents could not pay full rent in October, an increase from previous months’ reports, and a signal that the industry remains in dire straits even before this week's curfew announcement. An audit released last month by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli suggested that well over a hundred thousand jobs in the industry may be lost in the next six months, as well as a third or half of NYC's restaurants and bars.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, has said that "any call to close restaurants further must be coupled with the demand for stimulus to these small businesses."
Tagged
COVID-19
Governor Andrew Cuomo
pandemic
coronavirus
indoor dining
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
Where are the cheapest drinks in NYC? A new report details the city's average prices.
The median price of a cocktail in the city is now $16, and $9 for a draft beer.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 19, 2026
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
Food
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
By
Robert Sietsema
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .