Grand St in Williamsburg
Grand St in Williamsburg

Indoor dining won't be allowed yet as NYC enters Phase Three of reopening.

NYC entered Phase Two of its coronavirus reopening on June 22, and Phase Three is scheduled to begin as soon as July 6. Phase Three would allow restaurants to offer indoor dining, as opposed to only outdoor, with a capacity restriction of 50%, but in a briefing on Wednesday morning (7/1), Mayor Bill de Blasio said that wouldn’t be allowed yet.

“We particularly see problems revolving around people going back to bars and restaurants indoors. Indoors is the problem more and more. The science is showing it more and more,” de Blasio said. “So I want to make very clear: We cannot go ahead at this point in time with indoor dining in New York City.”

“Indoor dining has shown that it has been problematic, that a virus spreads in closed indoor areas that have air condition systems,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. “The state’s going to be reviewing the data and consulting with stakeholders in New York City. I’ve started speaking with restaurant owners, business owners about the risk-reward on indoor dining.”

New Jersey was also scheduled to begin allowing indoor dining this week, but Governor Phil Murphy has paused that as well for now, saying on Monday that the coronavirus surges reported in many states right now have been “driven by, in part, the return of indoor dining.”

Phase Three also allows outdoor recreation areas, including dog runs and and game courts, to reopen, as well as personal care services including nail salons, spas, and tattoo and piercing parlors.

Meanwhile, in states including Tennessee and Idaho, multiple country singers have received criticism after performing over the weekend to crowds of people with no social distancing or masks. The organizers of one festival defended the move, saying, “They were enjoying themselves and loving on one another and enjoying music. And if it’s not OK to do that, but it’s okay to riot and it’s okay to protest everything, then I went and fought for this country for the wrong reasons, I guess.”