Indoor dining in NYC to resume Feb. 12 ahead of Valentine's Day

NYC indoor dining to resume

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will allow restaurants in New York City to open to indoor dining at 25% capacity.

NEW YORK - Indoor dining is resuming a little earlier than originally planned in New York City. Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed up the restart to Friday ahead of Valentine's Day.

The governor had originally announced a limited restart to the holiday but announced the change Monday during a briefing from Albany.

"They made the point that they'd like to open a couple days earlier so that they can be ready for Valentine's Day, get the staff oriented, get supplies into the restaurants. That's a reasonable request," said Cuomo.

Capacity will be limited to 25%.

Indoor dining restart Feb. 12

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo says NYC restaurants can reopen starting Friday.

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On March 16, 2020, Cuomo announced the first ban on indoor dining in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Restaurants reopened in June. On Sept. 30, Cuomo allowed indoor dining to resume at 25%. On Dec. 14, indoor dining was banned again and has been ever since.

Cuomo said the new rules would not ease the 10 p.m. closing time that restaurants have been operating under during the pandemic.

Outdoor dining and takeout operations were allowed to continue but restaurant owners said that wasn't enough to ensure their survival.

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