New York reimposes restaurant restrictions and limits gatherings

New York, Nov 11 (EFE) .- The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, reimposed restrictions on economic activity and meetings on Wednesday after an increase in positive cases of covid-19 and hospitalized people throughout the state and its neighbors, who were the epicenter of the pandemic during the first wave.
In a conference call, Cuomo ordered that as of this Friday bars and restaurants licensed to sell alcohol and gyms close at 10 p.m. local time, and that meetings in private residences be reduced to a maximum of 10 people when considering them one ” great source of contagion “ahead of the Christmas season.
“We are seeing what has been predicted for months: a national and global increase, and New York is just a boat in the tide of covid-19,” said the governor, who noted that these measures seek “symmetry” with those adopted by authorities in New Jersey and Connecticut, in neighboring states, to prevent people from trying to evade them.
Cuomo reported that the proportion of positives over tested has risen to 2.9% in a total of 164,000 tests performed in the last 24 hours and there are 1,628 people hospitalized statewide, the highest number since mid-June, with more than 300 in intensive care units.
In nearby New Jersey, the positives rate hovers around 5% and restaurants have been banned from serving indoors after 10 p.m. local time starting this Thursday, while the city of Newark, a core near an airport that serves New York, has decreed a curfew.
This Wednesday, the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, warned that this is the “last chance to stop a second wave” and urged to act “now” after an increase in the local positive rate to 2.52%, figures that also go back to June, when the reopening began.
The Big Apple has areas of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in “red” and “orange” designations, with severe restrictions, and this Wednesday the district of Staten Island has been added as a “yellow zone” due to its alarming evolution compared to the rest of the city, according to Governor Cuomo.
“The measures are appropriate at this time, in anticipation of what we see as a potential contagion. If they are not enough to slow it down, we will turn off the tap more and part of this will be to reduce the number of people who can dine inside establishments.” Cuomo noted.
Restaurants will only be able to offer food to be picked up from 10:00 p.m. local time, added the governor, who called on the local government to deploy the police force to ensure compliance with the regulations, in addition to appealing to the individual responsibility of citizens.
New York, which was the state most affected by the coronavirus in the first months of the crisis in the US, no longer has the highest numbers of accumulated cases -536,000, behind Texas, California and Florida- but it does dead, almost 34,000, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

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