Indoor dining will resume with limited capacity in New York City restaurants next month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced last Friday, more than a month after the governor had banned it to combat a second wave of the coronavirus.
Starting Feb. 14, the city’s restaurants can seat customers indoors at 25 percent maximum capacity, officials said.
The announcement was a source of hope for the restaurant industry, an important driver of the city’s economic engine, which has been decimated by virus-induced restrictions that have forced many restaurants and bars to go out of business and caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs.
Restaurants and bars that have stayed afloat have relied on takeout and delivery, as well as outdoor dining, an increasingly untenable option as the frigid winter advances.
