While Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently extended the curfew for bars and restaurants from 11 p.m. to midnight, some bar owners say it should be lifted entirely, WSKG reports.
Jon Page, who opened the vintage arcade bar Three Lives in Syracuse last summer, said the hour-later curfew is great, but with Covid transmission rates at under 1.5% for bars and restaurants, he thinks the curfew should be eliminated.
“When you restrict the curfew like that, people end up going out to the places that don’t have regulations,” Page said. “It’s actually safer to go downtown because the transmission rate would be low.”
Added the state’s assembly minority leader Will Barclay: “Over and over, we’ve heard that we’re supposed to be following the facts and science. But as weeks turn into months, and months have now turned into over a year, we watched this administration change the rules without regard to either.” The curfew did recently end for bowling alleys, pool halls and other businesses.