Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday that bars and restaurants with liquor licenses will be required to close at 10 p.m.starting Friday to push back against the surge of Covid-19 cases.
Gyms will also have to close at 10 p.m., and attendance at house parties, indoor or outdoor, will be capped at 10 people, he said. Restaurants will still be allowed to provide curbside, food-only pick-up or delivery after 10 p.m., but will not be permitted to serve alcohol to go. The State Liquor Authority will issue further guidance for licensees as to what sales are continued to be permitted.
Bars and restaurants, gyms and events such as Halloween or football game parties, have been identified as spreaders of the virus.
He said the small parties are a new problem and that the New York decision was influenced by similar moves in adjacent states. He said contact tracing had proven that bars and restaurants, home parties and gyms were sources of the spread of the virus.
“We’re seeing a national and global surge,” he said. “New York is a ship on the Covid tide. Today we’ve een the country set a record in terms of new cases. It is really getting much worse by the day.”
After 10 p.m. restaurants with State Liquor Authority licenses will be able to provide only curbside pickup of food orders.