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New York Restaurants Say Governor's New Rules Will Permanently Close More Doors

ALBANY, NY (WSKG) - New York State is operating under a new set of metrics to determine pandemic related shutdowns. But some, including restaurant owners, are finding Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new criteria difficult to decipher, and worry it will mean more eateries will soon be out of business.

New York is already using a micro cluster approach based on the rising positivity rate of the virus in a region. An area is declared a yellow, orange, or red zone, with corresponding restrictions, including limits on public gatherings and potential closure of gyms and hair salons. Beginning this week, Cuomo says, the availability of hospital beds in a region will also be a factor when determining full or partial shutdowns.

“If our hospital capacity becomes critical we're going to close down that region, period. We call closedown a red zone,” Cuomo said on Monday.

But making that determination is a little more complicated. The governor says it will be based on a seven day average of hospitalizations, combined with the rate positive test results.

“If your seven-day average says if that continues for three weeks, you're going to hit critical capacity, we close you down. We want that three-week buffer and then we call critical 90 percent of your hospital capacity,” Cuomo said “So a little complicated.”

Cuomo is also asking hospitals to increase their bed capacity by 25%.

The governor also says he is increasingly worried about indoor dining. He says he wants to follow new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and, if a region’s hospitalization rate for COVID-19 is going up, he’d further limit indoor dining to 25% of capacity, and ban it entirely in New York City.

“If after five days we haven't seen a stabilization in a region's hospital rate, we're going to clamp down on indoor dining,” the governor said.

Melissa Fleischut, who leads the New York State Restaurant Association, says based on the governor’s remarks, restaurants expect indoor dining will be essentially shut down within the week. She says the new rules for indoor dining limits are on top of the current color zone designations, which have become a “confusing patchwork” of yellow and orange zones, with corresponding restrictions, all across the state.

“It’s going to be something to look at the map and try to figure out what the capacity limits are and where indoor dining is and isn’t allowed,” Fleischut said.

Fleischut says the discussions about the safety of indoor dining have already had a chilling effect on business, and restaurants in New York have seen a significant drop off in patrons since mid-November, when the weather turned colder. She disputes the CDC’s newest national guidelines, on indoor dining, saying they don’t take into account the additional safety precautions required in New York based eateries.

Many restaurants have already preemptively limited their services to take out and delivery, and she says those that are allowed to remain open, reduced from a 50% capacity to a 25% capacity, will likely decide it’s not worth it economically.

“Because if the numbers don’t work at 50%, they really don’t work at 25%”, she said.

Fleischut says restaurants are in dire need of financial relief, and she hopes that Congress will pass the latest $908 billion dollar stimulus package before the end of the month. It would include a renewal of Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans, which provides money for owners to pay their employees.

But she says what’s really needed is a dedicated fund for restaurants, and she hopes President –elect Biden, after he’s inaugurated and the new Congress in 2021 can make that happen.