For months of long, slow and careful reopening, indoor dining in New York City has closed yet again starting on Monday, December 14th. As Gov. Cuomo announced in his briefing citing an increase in hospitalizations of COVID cases that are vulnerable to overflow. The ban affects all local restaurants in the city and many of them have been left to fend for themselves without the support of federal aid. Despite Cuomo instituting the ban, he has requested the federal government to provide relief to bars and restaurants and extended the commercial eviction moratorium through January 1st.

Gov. Cuomo has faced a lot of backlash about this decision from the New York State Restaurant Association, as they claim that restaurants are “facing some of the worst circumstances in the nation.” Industry Association reported that one in six restaurants have closed and 91 percent of restaurant operators reported that revenue was significantly lower than it previously was before the outbreak of COVID-19. 

The restaurant business has especially been hit hard by the pandemic where most had to adapt in order to stay in business, coming up with contactless menus and outdoor seating arrangements on the street paying out of their own pocket. In a survey released by the New York State Restaurant Association, fifty-four percent of New York restaurants said they could not survive for the next six months without federal relief, compared to thirty-seven percent of restaurants nationwide. 

So why isn’t Gov. Cuomo pushing harder for federal relief of these small businesses? Some of these restaurants have pleaded in a letter with the governor to fight for federal relief and advocate for the restaurant industry before the closure becomes long-term.

Contrary to the ban, restaurants and bars only make up 1.43 percent of virus spread. Cuomo claims that the largest spreader of the virus is in fact living rooms where it’s expected to go up to 74 percent, especially in the holiday season through small family and social gatherings.

In an update from the governor on COVID-19 micro-cluster focus zones, Cuomo predicted how New Yorkers will see a bump in virus spread as people start to travel increasingly for Christmas and the New Years. “These are all going to be situations of small social gatherings and that’s the problem,” he said. 

As part of Cuomo’s winter plan, there has been a careful calibration of data of economic activity, the rate of transmission in densely populated areas and the positivity rate of hospitalizations into what he describes as cluster zones that help control COVID-19 spread and protect hospital capacity. These cluster zones go by color where red determines a strict lockdown of non-residential gatherings, residential gatherings, houses of worship, businesses, dining and schools. Orange zones dictate that only outdoor dining, takeout and delivery is allowed. Four person maximum per table and bars and restaurants close at 10 pm for on premise consumption. The guideline for the most amount of economic activity is yellow zones that allow both indoor and outdoor dining.

COVID positivity rates in the city have been high but not as high as the Mohawk Valley region which reported to be 9.6 percent positive. Still, New York City remains a 5 percent average in the region with a small cluster zone in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Staten Island’s cluster zone is entirely enveloped with a red zone in its lower region.

Even though the indoor dining ban will hurt the restaurant industry that has already been struggling, the ban is meant to deter the spread of the virus and perhaps prevent an even bigger shutdown of our economy. With hospitalization rates still on the rise, it’s crucial for our hospitals  to keep that number down and put an end to any more unnecessary deaths in the U.S., which have already surpassed 300,000.