Restaurant owners in New York are fuming over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to permit thousands of Buffalo Bills fans to attend the team’s upcoming playoff game while dining facilities are forced to adhere to strong COVID-19 restrictions.
The Bills have been given permission by Cuomo to permit 6,772 fans to attend its playoff game the weekend of Jan. 9-10. It will mark the first time spectators have been allowed at a Bills home game this season.
Facial coverings must be worn from the moment spectators exit their vehicles until the moment they return and proof of a negative test for COVID-19 will be required to attend the game.
Fox News reported Cuomo will be in attendance at the game. But his decision was not applauded by some restaurant owners, who are trying to survive despite restrictions prohibiting indoor dining.
''I want the same opportunity to have people come into the restaurant and dine,'' Don Swartz, owner of Veneto Gourmet Pizza and Pasta in Rochester, New York, told ''Fox & Friends.''
''It's a personal choice,'' he said. ''I want people to be able to make the same choice and come and support us, just as they're going to go root on the Buffalo Bills,'' Swartz said.
Ralph Galluzzi, owner of Raphael's restaurant in Hamburg, New York, which has been forced to cut back due to the restrictions, agreed.
''I'm six minutes from the stadium, so anybody that wanted to stop before or after, I lose that,'' Galluzzi said. ''I feel that everything that is going on right now in the restaurant industry is totally unfair.''
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.