#Gov. Cuomo warns NYC eateries to follow COVID protocol: ‘Three strikes and you’re closed’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is cracking down on New York City bars and restaurants that fail to comply with social distancing and mask rules with a new “three strikes and you’re closed” mandate.

“Any establishment that receives three violations will be closed for business,” Cuomo told reporters during a Thursday conference call.

The governor explained that Big Apple eateries and watering holes — which opened for outdoor dining only on June 22 — have “compliance issues” amid the coronavirus crisis.

Cuomo added that any “egregious violations can still result in an immediate loss of a liquor license.”

Additionally, Cuomo said the state will publicly post the names of establishments that “face disciplinary charges.”

The state has looked at more than 5,000 bars and restaurants downstate “and found many cases of a failure to comply,” said Cuomo. “It’s wrong. It’s dangerous. It’s selfish. It’s unacceptable.”

Greenwich Village’s famed White Horse Tavern was shut down earlier this month after being stripped of its liquor license for what state officials call “numerous” violations of coronavirus social-distancing rules.

As part of the crackdown, a new rule requiring that food be served with alcohol will be implemented statewide as well as a statewide ban on walk-up bar service.

Bar service will now only be for “seated patrons,” said the governor.

“All establishments must only serve alcohol to people also ordering food,” he said.

“The concept here was bars and restaurants would be allowed to do outdoor dining — that is a dining situation, you go with several people, you have a meal,” he explained. “That would be a limit to the exposure of the people at that table.”

Cuomo said if patrons are not eating a meal “and it’s just drinking, then it’s an outdoor bar and people are mingling.”

Meanwhile, Cuomo announced that New York City is on track to enter Phase Four on Monday, but said he will give a “definitive” answer by Friday afternoon on whether the Big Apple will move into the last phase of the state’s four-part plan.

“At this rate they are on track to enter Phase Four, but we will not know until we get the final data,” he said.

Under Phase Four, malls and cultural institutions, as well as media production, low-risk outdoor and indoor arts and entertainment venues, professional sports competitions with no fans, and schools can reopen.

However, Cuomo said, even if the Big Apple enters Phase Four on Monday, “We would go into Phase Four without any additional indoor activity.”

“We are still seeing issues in not only the bars and restaurants, but all across the country,” said Cuomo, who expressed fears that New York will get hit with a second wave of the deadly bug since cases are spiking in states across the country.

“Now we’re fearing a second wave which is really just a rebound from those states,” he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking during his own press briefing earlier Thursday, commented on the city reaching Phase Four and said the indoor aspects are “causing me pause.”

“The indoor should proceed only with tremendous caution and very strict rules,” de Blasio told reporters, adding that the city is “still working out the final plans with the state.”

The mayor said, “The state is feeling cautious, the city is feeling cautious. We really want to get this right in light of what we’re seeing around the country and I want to emphasize — this is the X factor now — we see so many other states going in the wrong direction, it’s causing us a lot of care in how we approach this decision.”

The state’s coronavirus-related health metrics remain down.

New York conducted 72,000 coronavirus tests Wednesday and 769 of them came back positive, making for an infection rate of 1.06 percent, according to Cuomo, who noted that 14 New Yorkers also died from COVID-19 Wednesday.

“Our numbers are good but what we are looking at — what we are dealing with — is a potential of a second wave from these other states,” the governor said.