Some Local Businesses Can Stay Open Late But Curfews Remain for Bars

Gamblers, pool sharks and power lifters can stay out later in New York now. The 11 p.m. curfew put into effect to help curb the spread of the coronavirus was lifted on some businesses April 1.

Bars and restaurants, however, still have to shoo their patrons out the door by 11 p.m.

The patchwork of regulations coming from Albany continues to draw criticism from local governments and business owners alike.

In Onondaga County, for example, when the Syracuse University basketball team was still in the playoffs, Orange fans gathered in private, unregulated watch parties since the bars had to close even before the tip-off of the last game.

Syracuse University is blaming weekend parties for a big jump in infections at the university.  Some of those exposures might have been avoided if bars had been allowed to stay open where social distancing and mask-wearing had better chance of being enforced.

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Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols is among Southern Tier businesses that is allowed to stay open late, at least for gamers.  The bars and restaurants still have to close at 11.

While casinos, billiard halls, gyms and fitness centers, bowling alleys and movie theaters are no longer under an 11 p.m. curfew, they are still limited to 25 percent capacity and must enforce physical spacing and mask wearing as well as continue enhanced sanitation practices.