New York City delays plan to restart indoor dining, citing coronavirus outbreaks across the country

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced Wednesday that the city would halt plans to allow indoor dining to resume at restaurants as multiple U.S. states have reported surging numbers of coronavirus cases.

NBC 4 reported that de Blasio pointed to rates of new coronavirus cases growing “worse and worse” around the country as a reason for the decision.

“Indoors is the problem. The science is showing it more and more. We cannot go ahead at this point in time with indoor dining in New York City,” de Blasio said, according to NBC 4. “Even a week ago we were hopeful we could but it keeps getting worse and worse around the country.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) had previously said Tuesday that the state would decide Wednesday whether to halt reopening plans for restaurants.

“Governor Cuomo also called on President Trump to issue an executive order requiring all Americans to wear masks in public and to wear a mask himself,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

Trump rarely appears in public wearing a mask, unlike his 2020 Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and has continued to downplay alarms raised by health officials about rates of new coronavirus cases rising around the country.

“If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” the president said Monday at the White House.

“Our testing is so much bigger and more advanced than any other country (we have done a great job on this!) that it shows more cases. Without testing, or weak testing, we would be showing almost no cases. Testing is a double edged sword — Makes us look bad, but good to have!!!” he added on Twitter.