Cuomo: City restaurants can resume indoor dining Friday

Waiter Lenworth Thompson serves lunch to David Zennario at Junior’s restaurant in Midtown. Similar scenes are returning to city soon.

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo had a change of heart.

Instead of a Valentine’s Day return, New York City restaurants can start serving customers indoors beginning Friday, two days earlier than originally planned, the governor announced Monday.

Eateries in the Big Apple pleaded with Cuomo in recent days, asking him to allow them to open up dining rooms for the full weekend as the state’s COVID numbers continue to decline.

“We respond to the data, we respond to the facts that we face today. The facts may change tomorrow and then we will change with the facts,” the governor said during a remote briefing in Albany. “The enemy changes tactics, we adjust with the enemy. But the numbers are down now.”

The statewide positivity rates have dropped for a full month, Cuomo noted, and the number of people hospitalized, 7,716, is the lowest since Dec. 28. Another 114 New Yorkers died of the virus on Sunday.

Restaurants in the city have been barred from serving customers inside since mid-December, after a brief two-month reprieve in which the state allowed indoor dining in the five boroughs.

Relying on takeout and makeshift outdoor dining setups for the better part of a year has devastated eateries across the city. Neighboring New Jersey recently increased indoor capacity to 35%, while upstate restaurants have been allowed to open at 50% for the most part since last summer.

Last week, Cuomo allowed restaurant workers to become eligible for COVID vaccines, after initially shooting down the idea. The decision came as the Biden administration upped the weekly number of doses being sent to states.

Industry groups applauded the governor’s decision.

“Valentine’s Day weekend is a traditional bright spot for our industry during the winter months, especially when it falls on a Sunday,” said Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association. “By allowing us to safely reopen and welcome couples looking to celebrate, we can play a role in helping to revive New York City’s economy.”

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, called the improving COVID metrics and weekend openings “welcome news” for the city’s “decimated restaurant industry and ... lovers alike.”

“This will allow restaurants to generate much-needed revenue from the Valentine’s Day weekend business, much of which they would have lost because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year,” he said.

While allowing dining inside to return to the city two days early, the governor has so far refused to lift a statewide 10 p.m. curfew that many restaurant groups have said is too early.