New York Governor Cuomo Warns of Imminent Second Wave, Postpones Indoor Dining in NYC

After seeing spikes in new coronavirus cases in states that reopened, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hit the pause button on allowing New York City restaurants to reopen for indoor dining.

New York, once the epicenter of the outbreak, now has a low infection rate and has been reporting a decline in new cases for more than a month. However, Cuomo said on Wednesday, he worries there are "storm clouds on the horizon" because of a lack of citizen compliance and local government enforcement with social distancing.

Part of the problem New York City faces, Cuomo said, is that it's a travel hub and can't operate as an island separate from the rest of the country. On Tuesday, the United States saw a record-high number of new cases, the fourth record set over the past week, and spikes in other states could easily cause the infection rate to rise in New York City through visitors coming to the area.

"You look at our numbers today, they're still great," Cuomo said. "...but I feel there are storm clouds on the horizon."

Cuomo said citizen compliance with orders was slipping and lambasted photos of groups of people gathering outside bars and restaurants to socialize. He acknowledged the need to get out and see friends after being cooped up for a significant amount of time, but told local governments to step up with enforcement.

"They had one job: testing, tracing and enforce compliance," Cuomo said. "If you have citizen compliance dropping and you don't have local governments enforcing then you're going to see the virus go up, period."

To help enforce compliance with the measures put in place, Cuomo said the state will create its own enforcement department to supplement local efforts. Resources are limited though, so Cuomo said local governments need to "do their job."

Aside from what's going on within the city, the governor said the "second storm cloud" was the state of the outbreak in the rest of the country. The majority of U.S. states are seeing a rise in cases and travelers from 16 of them are required to quarantine for 14 days after arriving in New York.

Until the "facts change," Cuomo said indoor dining will be on pause. As far as a timeline for lifting that restriction, he told reporters on Wednesday that it depends on what "we do," meaning individuals and businesses.

"You see you're selling beer to go and you see 25 people hanging out in front, okay they're your patrons, but you can help, 'you can say, okay guys, move along this isn't helpful,'" Cuomo said. "Local government has to step up and do their job."

If citizens comply, businesses help reduce the number of people in one area and local government enforces measures, "we'll be in good shape," the governor said.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.