Indoor dining dashed in New York City

As new cases of the coronavirus surge in many states, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are pulling the plug on the resumption of indoor dining in city restaurants on Monday. “Now is not the time to forge ahead,” the mayor told reporters Monday morning. “Indoors is the problem. More and more, the science is showing it.”

Public health experts have said the coronavirus spreads much more easily in crowded indoor settings like bars and restaurants. More compliance with social distancing and a stabilization of the national spike in cases will determine when the table could be set for the resumption of indoor dining, according to the governor.

Other aspects of the reopening process continue apace. “The numbers are good, and the numbers are steady,” the governor told reporters at a Monday press conference in Manhattan regarding the latest data on hospitalizations, deaths and positive tests for the coronavirus. “We’ve been smart about what we did in handling COVID.”

New York City will enter the third phase of reopening on Monday, while the Capital Region entered the fourth phase of reopening on Wednesday. Long Island and the mid-Hudson Valley regions could follow in early July. But that could all change if the pandemic surges here as it has in other states. “We’ve made tremendous progress,” Cuomo said. “We’ve been through hell and back – but this is not over.”