New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a COVID-19 briefing on July 6, 2020 in New York City.
David Dee Delgado | fake pictures
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that the state liquor authority has suspended 27 alcohol licenses in bars and restaurants for violations of social distancing rules as public officials try to keep the coronavirus outbreak under control.
“I am sorry it has come to this, but it is a dangerous situation, and I have said it many, many times,” Cuomo said during a press conference. “We never open bars. This was a violation of them from the beginning.”
In New York City and Long Island alone, the state took action by suspending liquor licenses in four bars and restaurants. The governor listed three in Queens and one in Suffolk County.
“We are pretty serious about it,” he said, adding that the state has filed 410 charges against New York food and beverage establishments.
Unlike other states, New York does not have separate liquor licenses for bars and restaurants, according to Cuomo.
“We never authorize bar operations,” he said. “According to his own words, dining outside is not a bar operation. The word is dining. You don’t have dinner when you go to a restaurant to drink. That is drinking, and we would have been outside drinking what we authorized.”
The bars “exploited existing regulations” by taking food outdoors as an opportunity to facilitate drinking outdoors, the governor said. He added that this is “now a major problem” as more young people are seen drinking in open spaces.
“It’s the younger people in bars, that’s the problem. And we know that younger people can easily pass it on and that’s where the problem comes from,” he said.
Cuomo warned on Monday that youth groups congregating in bars and restaurants, especially in the New York City area, are “a threat” to the state’s reopening plans.
He said his office received reports of overcrowding and mask violations over the weekend in the New York City area, and in some cases, as many as 700 people were drinking in an open space and violating the state’s open container law. .
“We will have to reverse the opening of the bar and restaurant if congregations continue, if local governments do not stop it, that is what is going to happen,” Cuomo said Monday at a press conference.
New York City received clearance to reopen phase four on Monday, but with some restrictions. Phase four will allow for more outdoor activities like zoos, outdoor movies, and gardens. However, indoor operations, such as eating at restaurants and shopping in shopping malls, will remain closed, Cuomo said Friday.
The governor threatened to close deals that violated distancing policies last week. Citing “significant evidence of noncompliance” in New York City restaurants and bars, he said the state will close the restaurants after three violations.
“Three violations and you’re closed. We will also publish the names of the establishments facing disciplinary charges,” he said.
Cuomo also called on local governments for not taking sufficient action on Tuesday. He previously said that local police departments and governments that are not enforcing the state’s social distancing policies “are not doing their job.”
“The state is not the primary enforcer of these laws. Local governments are. I’ve been asking them for weeks to step forward and do their job,” he said during the Tuesday call.
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