100 Restaurants So Far Seeking May 20 Reopen

Around 100 local restaurants so far have applied to the city Health Department for an outdoor dining license renewal, which would allow them to partially reopen starting Wednesday.

Mayor Justin Elicker and city Health Director Maritza Bond delivered that news Monday afternoon during the mayor’s daily coronavirus-related virtual press briefing, held online via the Zoom teleconferencing app and on YouTube Live.

As the city prepares the governor’s statewide Phase 1 reopening guidelines to kick in starting May 20, Bond said that her department has already received roughly 100 applications for outdoor dining licensing renewals from local food establishments.

Restaurants are one of four categories of business, including offices, retail, and museums and zoos, eligible to partially reopen on Wednesday. (Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that he is delaying the reopening of barbershops and hair salons, which were originally included in Phase 1, until ​“early June.”

“They are existing, approved entities that are just renewing with renewal applications,” Bond said. That is: the roughly 100 that have submitted renewal applications so far are businesses that have previously been approved for outdoor dining, and have the necessary city permits and space available.

Bond said that her staff is going through those 100 applications now to get a sense of who has paid for the appropriate renewal license and who has not. She said the local Health Department will begin inspecting outdoor dining facilities starting Wednesday.

She also said that 30 local food trucks have applied to reopen starting Wednesday.

And she said that no local food businesses that have not in the past had any kind of outdoor sit-down service have yet applied for a new Health Department restaurant license.

Bond (pictured) said this is likely because businesses looking to open outdoor dining services for the first time must first go through the City Plan and zoning permitting processes. She said that process should take ​“no longer than 10 business days on the permitting side. That’s separate from the licensing side.”

“I have not received any new applications to date,” she said.

Click here for step-by-step guidelines for New Haven restaurants interested in applying for an outdoor dining area for their businesses. And click on the video above to watch a city-hosted webinar on restaurant-specific guidelines included as part of the governor’s Phase 1 reopening.

Other updates included:

• Mayor Elicker (pictured) said that the city now has a total of 2,283 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 91 related fatalities.

• He also said that the city will be announcing several new testing sites in the coming days. There are currently five Covid-19 testing sites in New Haven: two on Long Wharf, one on Dixwell Avenue, one on Grand Avenue, and one in Day Street Park.

“As far as New Haven goes, there is no barrier towards anyone getting tested,” Elicker said. He said that all five testing sites do not charge patients to be tested, though they will bill patients’ insurance if they have insurance. He said only one of the sites, Yale New Haven Health’s on Sargent Drive, requires a doctor’s note, though the Health Department will help get patients the documents they need in order to visit that site. He said three of the sites are in easy-to-walk-to neighborhood locations in Dixwell, Dwight, and Fair Haven. Anyone interested in getting tested at CVS’s site at 60 Long Wharf can call 2 – 1‑1 for a free taxi ride there, he said.

“New Haven, I think it’s fair to say, is at the forefront of standing up testing sites,” Elicker said.

• Bond said that the city health officials worked with Greenwich-based doctor Steven Murphy to test 87 residents at the RegalCare nursing home last week. She said those tests yielded 14 newly identified positive cases among residents, 13 of whom were asymptomatic. She said the city and Murphy also tested 104 residents at the Advanced Nursing facility in the Hill, resulting in 22 positive tests, all among asymptomatic residents.

• When asked if churches and other places of worship can resume in-person services starting Wednesday, Elicker cautioned them not to. He said his 10-person-limit local executive order and the governor’s five-person-limit statewide executive order remain in effect, though they do not apply to houses of worship. He said the governor’s 50-person-limit executive order does apply to houses of worship.

Nevertheless, he said, ​“I would not recommend beginning religious services” on May 20. ​“My recommendation is to stay the course, even though it may be difficult,” because large groups gathering indoors will likely only result in community spread of the virus, he said.

He added that he and Bond have been talking with local churches and other places of worship about hosting ​“drive-in services” whereby parishioners could gather in cars in church parking lots for outdoor services.

• When asked for his thoughts on Osborn Correctional Institution going into lockdown on Friday after the state Department of Correction announced that over 100 asymptomatic inmates had tested positive for Covid-19, Elicker said, ​“I think that we should be protecting as much as we can individuals who are incarcerated. That means testing the individuals who are incarcerated and the workers in prisons.” He praised the city police department for working to reduce capacity at the 1 Union Ave. lockup to allow for social distancing between inmates and staff.