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‘I Don’t Think There’s A Similarity’: Bill De Blasio Defends Keeping NYC Restaurants Shut Despite Opening Schools

   DailyWire.com
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 14: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a food shelf organized by The Campaign Against Hunger in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn on April 14, 2020 in New York City. Before touring the facility de Blasio praised the work of food shelves and community organizations across New York City to combat hunger during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio asserted during a Tuesday press briefing that children eating indoors at school is not comparable to people eating indoors at restaurants, which remains illegal under his lockdown mandate.

“I don’t think there’s a similarity at all,” de Blasio said regarding the comparison, according to the New York Post. “We have an imperative — a legal imperative, a moral imperative, an educational imperative — to give kids the best education we can. We know that means having at least some time in person.”

“Versus indoor dining, which is obviously a very optional activity, which some people do a lot who have the resources and others can’t do at all because they don’t have the resources,” he continued.

The New York Post reported that more than 700,000 public school students in New York City will resume part-time learning next month, which would necessitate eating lunch indoors.

One cannot compare schools and restaurants, de Blasio maintained, saying, “Indoor dining matters because of the culture of this city, because of a lot of jobs, we admire the people who have created these businesses, but you can’t compare the legal and moral imperative.”

As the Daily Wire reported, de Blasio admitted his government has no plan or timeline for re-implementing indoor dining in New York City restaurants, despite the fact it is one of the city’s key industries:

According to the New York Post, when a New Yorker called into WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” to ask the mayor if restaurants would be open by the end of the year, de Blasio said, “Indoor dining, there’s not a plan right now.”

Claiming indoor dining has led to spikes of the virus in Hong Kong and Europe, de Blasio continued, “There’s not a context for indoor dining. We’re never saying it’s impossible. But we do not, based on what we’re seeing around the world, we do not have a plan for reopening indoor dining in the near term.”

Restaurants in New York City remain confined to outdoor dining and takeout, though restaurants in other parts of the state have reopened inside at half-capacity — an inconsistency that has many infuriated.

Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino told the New York Post earlier this month, “It’s a real problem when you represent a border community. People say to me: ‘I don’t understand why I can’t eat indoors in this restaurant. I’m in the Bronx and I can go across the street in Westchester and eat indoor in other places?’ Is there something magic in the air over there?”

Regarding rolling out a firm date for re-implementing indoor dining, de Blasio said, “We haven’t been able to set a firm standard because we see a real problem and challenge here.”

“What we need to do first and foremost is focus on the health and safety of New Yorkers and on bringing back our city smartly and not allowing the mistakes we’ve seen in so much of the country and so much of the world,” he added.

Related: ‘We Do Not Have A Plan’: De Blasio Admits Having No Timeline For Reopening NYC Indoor Dining

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