New York, California, D.C., Louisiana ease COVID restrictions on restaurant dining

Almost one year after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, much of the U.S. remains on some sort of lockdown. Restaurants across the country have closed, some permanently. Restaurants and bars lost more jobs in December than any other sector.

However, states are beginning to reopen and loosen restrictions, with some of the most populous states – New York and California – reopening indoor and outdoor dining, respectively.

At a press conference Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the country’s most populous city, New York City, is planning to reopen indoor dining at 25% capacity if positivity rates hold. Indoor dining is set to resume Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14).

Many jurisdictions implemented “curfews” for restaurants earlier in the pandemic, requiring them to either close or cease serving alcohol at 10 p.m., and some areas have now repealed those measures. Parts of New York State, Maryland and Delaware have ended their curfews.

D.C. has seen openings and closings throughout the month of January, beginning with a 6 p.m. curfew on the night of Jan. 6 during the insurrection at the Capitol. As a precaution, the District instituted a curfew on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. D.C. currently remains at 25% indoor dining capacity with a 12 a.m. curfew in place.

While some states ease into reopening, however, others hadn’t closed recently at all. In fact, almost half the states in the U.S. allow restaurants to operate at full capacity with social distancing measures in place. Meanwhile, states like California are just now reopening outdoor dining, and New Yorkers have been eating outside in snowstorms as they wait for indoor dining to reopen.

See the latest restrictions in cities and states across the country.

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