NYSRA Update: COVID-19 Outbreak | May 4, 2020

Good News
  • The 2020 NYSRA Educational Foundation ProStart Invitational was held as a virtual event this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. In order to provide the opportunity for students to showcase their hard work and be awarded post-secondary scholarships, NYSRAEF modified the event format and made it possible for students to compete and be judged remotely. We are pleased to announce the winning teams for the 2020 NYSRAEF ProStart Invitational:
  • New York:
  • Management: Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, Yorktown Heights, NY
  • Culinary: Carrier Educational Center, Angola, NY
  • Vermont:
  • Management: River Valley Technical Center, Springfield, VT
  • Culinary: Southwest Vermont Career Development Center, Bennington, VT​

Federal

State
  • The New York State Restaurant Association will be rolling out the New York Restaurant Promise to help restaurants, employees and guests make a commitment to keeping each other safe by following all recommended guidelines. Read the NY Restaurant Promise here.
  • Governor Cuomo announced some further details on the state’s business re-opening plan. The region-by-region approach will consist of four phases to re-opening New York State:
  • PHASE I: Construction/Manufacturing/some Retailers with curbside pick-up
  • PHASE II: Professional Services, Finance/Insurance, Real Estate, Administrative Support
  • PHASE III: Restaurants/Food service and Hotels/Accommodations
  • PHASE IV: Arts/Entertainment/Recreation and Education
  • As part of this process the State will monitor four “core factors” to determine if a region can re-open: new infections, health care capacity, diagnostic testing capacity and contact tracing capacity. The Governor provided a listing of where each region stands currently. A link to the Governor’s press release and press conference can be found here.
  • To further assist our industry, the Association and ServSafe have decided to extend their FREE Covid-19 training videos, ServSafe Food Handler, ServSuccess and AHLEI career workforce development training are now available for free through May 2020. In addition, we’re also introducing ServSafe/MFHA Cultural Intelligence for Restaurant Managers During COVID-19, Takeout and Delivery Training videos: ServSafe Takeout: COVID-19 Precautions and ServSafe Delivery: COVID-19 Precautions

NYC
  • Tomorrow at 10 am, City Council will hear public testimony on the proposals for premium pay and banning layoffs. You can watch the hearing live here. NYSRA will testify via video, and you are all invited to submit written testimony, which will be accepted up to 72 hours after the hearing ends. We encourage you to get involved! Submit testimony here. Keep an eye out for our phone to action campaign launching tomorrow morning.

Communications

Press
  • Melissa Fleischut will be doing a Facebook Live with Steve Barnes of the Times Union tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., tune in here.
  • The Association fielded calls from Fox Business, Crain’s NY and CBS 6 Albany today about the subway closings for cleaning and liability issues for re-opening.