NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday evening said it looked “very likely” indoor dining will shut down in New York City, but he urged patience since he predicted the shutdowns would be temporary.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced earlier in the day that indoor dining would shut down in the city in five days if coronavirus hospitalizations don’t stabilize. Hospitalizations in New York state increased by 160 people Sunday, bringing the total to 4,602 hospitalizations.

Restaurants in the city, outside of orange zones, are currently operating at 25% indoor capacity. If the city’s current hospitalization rate stays on track, it would force restaurants to operate on outdoor dining and takeout methods. For the rest of the state, restaurants would go from 50% indoor capacity to 25%.

In his weekly “Mondays with the Mayor” interview on Inside City Hall, de Blasio didn’t project optimism the city could reverse the disturbing trends.

“The number of cases has continued to grow. And so we are unfortunately, it looks very likely we will get to the conditions the governor talked about, which would lead to the closure for a period of time of indoor dining,” the mayor told anchor Errol Louis. “I don’t say that with anything but sorrow for these businesses and their employees.”

De Blasio insists if it happens, a shutdown would be a “temporary measure.” He didn’t provide an expected timeline for the return of indoor dining if it’s suspended, but he predicted the vaccine would greatly improve things in January and into February and give New York a chance to reverse closures.

While de Blasio admitted the city hasn’t seen a link in COVID-19 spread to specific restaurants, he maintained — as he has done so in the past — that evidence of spread in countries around the world would justify shutdowns.

“In terms of what we’ve seen from Test & Trace [Corps], you’re right — and we’ve been very open about that: we’re not linking a lot of cases specifically back to specific restaurants, for example,” de Blasio told Louis. “That being said, the experience from all over the world has consistently shown that indoor dining, along with gyms and some other activities, are amongst the most sensitive and the ones that contribute the most.”

The mayor cited the trouble indoor dining brings to people trying to protect themselves, as diners have to remove their masks while they eat and they are seated closely together at their table. De Blasio also claims gyms are risky because people exhale deeply when they exercise.

He stressed New Yorkers should heed lessons from around the world, even if there’s no evidence of spread at restaurants in the city.

“When you have your cases going up, you got to choose some places to focus that you think will have the biggest strategic impact,” the mayor said. “So it is not just about, did we get a massive body of evidence from Test & Trace? That’s important, but it’s also what we learned from every place else in the country and the world over the previous nine months that tells us that’s an area we have to treat with real sensitivity.”

The mayor also claimed this “second wave is the last wave,” arguing any new shutdowns would be the last round due to the impending vaccine, and because in the city there are “millions who have already been exposed to the disease and, for all intents and purposes, really don’t have much chance of getting it again or getting it in a serious fashion.”

There is no confirmation, however, that the city’s second wave is the last one, especially since polls have shown less than 60% of New Yorkers say they would take the vaccine. And while few people have contracted COVID-19 twice, some epidemiologists warn it could become a seasonal challenge like the flu and people would need vaccines annually.

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Watch the full “Mondays with the Mayor” interview above.

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