New York City restaurants can resume indoor dining on Sept. 30 at 25% capacity with other restrictions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
Cuomo said all customers will undergo temperature checks at the door and one member of each party will have to provide information for contact tracing if needed.
Customers will not be served drinks at bars, which will be to provide drinks for table service, and restaurants must close at midnight. Tables will be required to be 6 feet apart and customers must wear masks while not at the table.
Indoor dining is already allowed in restaurants elsewhere in New York state.
“We knew that compliance was lacking in New York City. That was a reason for caution,” Cuomo said at a Wednesday briefing.
Neighboring New Jersey recently enacted similar rules.
Cuomo said the state could halt indoor dining if infection rates go up.
But if it remains steady, New York City could lift more restrictions on indoor dining starting Nov. 1, when Cuomo said the state will look at the infection data and decide whether to allow increased capacity at restaurants.
(AP)