What you need to know
- A state Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of several restaurants in Erie County that had sued the state for its orange zone designation; the judge granted a precautionary order
- Government legal adviser Andrew Cuomo says the state is reviewing the decision, with which it disagrees; meanwhile, it allows restaurants in the orange zone to operate according to the rules of the yellow zone
- According to Cuomo’s latest update, there are seven orange cluster zone zones in the state, including parts of Westchester County and New York, where indoor eating is prohibited regardless of cluster rules.
New York has temporarily accepted indoor meals in areas of orange concentration following a decision by the state Supreme Court this week in favor of some restaurants in Erie County that had demanded the restriction, the legal counsel of the Erie said on Thursday. government Andrew Cuomo.
This means that parts of Westchester County that have been under these mid-level restrictions since mid-December can resume indoor cooking, at least temporarily. Staten Island areas have also been under orange zone rules since then, but Cuomo has banned covered food throughout New York City regardless of its cluster zone program. It is unclear how it would affect the state sentence.
Up to four people per table can now dine indoors in seven so-called “orange zones” located in counties with some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases or hospitalizations in the state – including Monroe County on the lakes Finger.
Several restaurants across the state, including many in New York City, had sued for a ban on indoor food, but State Supreme Court Judge Henry Nowak agreed to a preliminary order to be executed Wednesday in the Erie case.
According to the rules of the Cuomo cluster zone, the orange zones, the second most restricted of level three, completely ban indoor food and limit the fresh to four people per table. Schools also move remotely, unless they try; high-risk non-essential businesses are closed and meetings are limited to a maximum of 10 people.
In his decision, Nowak ruled that restaurants in Erie County that were in the orange areas could return to the indoor dining rules that apply to the yellow areas, which allow for dinner but only with a maximum of four people per table.
Nowak said he could not “find evidence that the state had a rational basis for designating parts of Erie County as an orange zone” and that restaurants would suffer “irreparable damage” without the ban.
According to the latest Cuomo guidelines, which were last updated in mid-December, restrictions on the orange zone apply to areas that have had a positivity rate of 4% or higher for 10 consecutive days. i the area has reached 85% of hospital capacity or the Department of Health determines that the area has an unacceptably high hospital admission rate.
As of Thursday, Erie County has a variable positivity rate of 6.3 percent. The governor’s website does not break down hospitalization data by county, but state data show that no region of the state has reached 85% of hospital capacity. This would lead to more aggressive stopping measures. On Thursday, New York, in the Erie County region, had 32% and 36% of hospital beds and ICU beds available, respectively, based on an average of seven days.
Daily percentage of positive tests by New York region
Gov. Andrew Cuomo divides the state into 10 test regions and tracks positivity rates to identify potential hot spots. The most recent monitoring data by region and for the five municipalities are shown below. For the latest county-level results, click here
It was not immediately known whether the Department of Health assessment was what caused the orange zone restrictions. Erie County has confirmed nearly 50,000 total cases of COVID to date, more than 69% of the 71,273 confirmed cases in the five counties that make up the western New York region since March.
Cuomo’s office says it is reviewing the sentence. The parties will have to go back to court to determine if the ban will be permanent.
Gibson, meanwhile, said the state would allow all restaurants in the orange zone to operate under yellow zone rules “to ensure uniformity and fairness.”
“We disagree with the court’s decision and its impact on public health, as data from the federal CDC clearly show that the indoor dining room increases the spread of COVID-19,” Gibson said. “Since the beginning of this pandemic, the state has acted on the basis of facts and the advice of public health experts and we will continue with this approach.”
According to Cuomo’s latest update, there are seven areas of orange cluster areas in the state, including that of Erie County. Parts of Staten Island, Westchester County, Monroe County, Chemung County, Onondaga County and Niagara County (also in the western New York region) are classified as orange areas.
The NYC Hospitality Alliance, which represents the city’s restaurants, among other companies, rejected Cuomo for banning indoor food in light of the ruling.
“The court’s preliminary decision and the governor’s action to remove covered food restrictions in all“ orange zones ”makes the state of the covered food ban in New York City even more outrageous and destructive to to thousands of restaurants in the five districts, especially when infection and hospitalization rates are lower than most counties in the state where covered food with 50% occupancy is allowed, ”its executive director said Thursday , Andrew Rigie, and his attorney, Robert Bookman.
“The continuation of the ban on indoor food in New York City is separate from any of the data and criteria that the state has articulated and that needs to end now,” they said.