Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned on Monday, Dec. 7, that additional restrictions will be applied to indoor dining if hospitalization rates don’t stabilize in the next five days. Currently, bars, restaurants and gyms, as well as any State Liquor Authority-licensed establishment, must close in-person service from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, and in New York City, eateries are operating at 25 percent capacity. The governor warned that if the hospitalization rate does not stabilize in New York City in the next five days, indoor dining will be suspended.

 

In regions outside New York City, if the rate does not stabilize, seating capacity restrictions will be reduced from the current 50 percent capacity cap to 25 percent.

 

On Wednesday, Dec. 9, during a press conference, a Cuomo administration official confirmed that bars and restaurants were the fifth and sixth highest arenas, in terms of mass gatherings, for the spread of COVID-19, and were also the fastest growing arenas for the spread.

 

As reported by Norwood News, a rally held in lower Manhattan outside the governor’s offices on Sept. 28, by restaurant and bar owners and workers in the catering industry, drew a crowd of around 2,000. They argued that dining establishments in New York City should be allowed operate at 50 percent capacity like in other parts of the state, as they are all subject to the same social distancing requirements and health-related guidelines. So far, they have been denied that flexibility.

 

The governor said on Monday that total COVID hospitalizations had risen to 4,602. Of the 152,287 tests reported the previous day, 7,302, or 4.79 percent, were positive. Also, on Sunday, there were 872 patients in ICU, an increase of 22 from the previous day. Of those in ICU, 477 are intubated. He also confirmed that, sadly, 80 New Yorkers died from the virus on Sunday.

“We are calling on all retired doctors and nurses to return to service if they are able to do so,” he wrote in a follow-up newsletter, adding that hospitals had already been asked to identify retired staff as part of New York’s COVID Winter Plan in order to help avoid or mitigate any potential staffing shortage. The State will automatically renew registrations at no cost to help streamline the process.

 

It was also announced that regions that reach “critical hospital capacity” will be designated as a red zone under New York’s coronavirus Micro-Cluster Strategy  which evaluates the rate of spread. Critical hospital capacity is defined as 90 percent of hospital capacity (in other words, 90 percent full). Following the implementation of the State’s “surge and flex” protocol, if a region’s seven-day average hospitalization growth rate shows that the region will reach 90 percent hospital capacity within the next three weeks, the region will be designated a red zone.

It was noted that there were lower rates of hospitalization downstate than in upstate New York currently, the opposite situation in comparison to the first wave of the pandemic in the spring. The New York State Finger Lakes region, where Rochester is located, currently has the highest percentage of hospitalizations, followed by Western New York and Central New York.

 

Meanwhile, ZIP code 10467 covering Norwood, Allerton, Pelham Parkway & Williamsbridge has the fourth highest death code in the City at 337. The highest, at 436, is Corona in Queens, followed by Edgemere/Far Rockaway, Queens at 380, followed by Allerton/Baychester/Pelham Gardens/Williamsbridge in the Bronx at 370.

 

NYS expects to receive an initial delivery of 170,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and we anticipate the possibility of starting to vaccinate the first group of New Yorkers by December 15, if all safety and efficacy approvals are granted.

 

Indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences are currently limited to no more than 10 people.