Central Queens small businesses fear new shutdown after months of COVID losses
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Kew Gardens is one of three Queens neighborhoods where positive COVID rates have remained above 3 percent for seven days. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
By Rachel Vick
At the Potter's Wheel in Kew Gardens, staff have enforced strict adherence to COVID-19 safety measures for weeks. They want to ensure the health of the ceramic artists who rely on the studio and the survival of their business, said owner Grace Anker.
“Whenever someone has been here since March, even if I'm by myself, we’ve been masked,” Anker said. “I have a sign-in sheet going back months. We’ve been controlling it among our clients”
But that diligence went unrewarded by Mayor de Blasio, who on Sunday proposed a plan to shut down businesses in zip codes where COVID has surged. Gov. Andrew Cuomo put the brakes on the business closure plan Monday, though he did move to close schools in Kew Gardens, Kew Gardens Hills, Far Rockaway and six Brooklyn neighborhoods where COVID positivity rates have remained above 3 percent for seven consecutive days.
The closures would specifically apply to Kew Gardens’ zip code 11415 (3.81 percent positivity rate), Kew Gardens Hill/Pomonok’s zip code 11367 (3.86 percent) and Edgemere/Far Rockaway’s zip code 11691 (5.63 percent).
Cuomo said he may close non-essential businesses in those areas if the COVID rates don’t improve.
Anker said the shutdown could cripple businesses that have been struggling for months since COVID hit.
“I can't even say it's an inconvenience — it’s a hardship,” she said. “We didn’t anticipate having to close down in the middle of the week. It breaks our hearts.”
In addition to the nine zip codes with seven-day sustained COVID spikes, the city and state are also monitoring 11 other neighborhoods, including four in Central Queens, where the positivity rate has also increased to 3 percent or higher. De Blasio’s proposal would have halted indoor and outdoor dining at all restaurants in those communities, too.
Restaurant owners called that a slap in the face after months of huge revenue losses, especially as eateries in neighboring zip codes could remain open.
“Shutting down little spots here and there, it’s like when New York City couldn’t open indoor dining but restaurants open 100 feet away across the Nassau County border could,” said Aaron Siegel, the manager at Carlos and Gabby’s in Kew Gardens Hills.
Siegel said Carlos and Gabby’s maintained a stellar takeout business during the pandemic, but he worries about nearby businesses that depend primarily on in-person dining. Some owners have sunk a ton of money into their outdoor spaces in order to comply with regulations, he said.
“We’re doing our part, we’re abiding by the rules,” Siegel said. “You're punishing the businesses, and by punishing the businesses you’re punishing the city itself. You're hurting renters and owners and everyone except the people who you should be”
Siegel said tougher enforcement would compel people to wear masks and control the outbreak.
“You have people handing out masks — instead of masks, how about having local authorities handing out citations and fines, which they said they would?” he said.
Cuomo said the state would take over that enforcement. He also called on city health officials to finely tailor business closures rather than close every non-essential business with one broad stroke.
“If you don’t draw those lines carefully … you can actually be spreading the virus” Cuomo said at a briefing Monday morning. “You get this small area, you can just walk across the street, you walk two blocks.“
“That is a very real concern and there’s a very real question of, if you do this wrong, are you just spreading inadvertently the virus, so how you draw those lines is very important,” he added. “I'm unhappy with the enforcement statewide.”
