As U.S. Breaks Hospitalization Records, N.Y. and Other States Add Restrictions

With coronavirus cases surging in New York and across the country, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday that private indoor and outdoor gatherings statewide would be limited to 10 people and that gyms, bars and restaurants must close daily at 10 p.m.

The restrictions will take effect Friday, and Mr. Cuomo said that local governments will be responsible for enforcing them. The limit on gatherings will apply to private homes. The curfew will apply only to bars and restaurants licensed by the state liquor authority, and restaurants can continue to provide takeout and delivery after 10 p.m., but only for food.

Mr. Cuomo said that officials were moved to announce the new restrictions as they confronted an increase in cases.

“Bars, restaurants, gyms, house parties,” Mr. Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. “That’s where it’s coming from, primarily.”

After months when the New York City area had seemed to keep the pandemic relatively contained, the virus has again increased sharply in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the region that was once at the center of the U.S. outbreak.

Though cases and hospitalizations are significantly lower than they were at the spring peak, officials in all three states have acknowledged that they are considering additional restrictions that would roll back the slow, cautious reopening process — particularly as cooling weather drives people indoors, where the virus more easily spreads.

In a marked difference from the spring, the wave in the metropolitan area coincides with a surge nationwide. The United States has been shattering daily records for new cases, pushing the seven-day average to more than 123,000 per day, as of Tuesday, according to a New York Times database. For the first time, new cases surpassed 140,000 on Wednesday.

And 65,368 people were hospitalized across the country with Covid-19 on Wednesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, the largest number at any point during the pandemic.

“And New York is a ship on the Covid tide,” Mr. Cuomo said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter that the citywide seven-day average rate of positive test results was at 2.52 percent — a rate last seen in early June, when the city had only just begun reopening nonessential business after a devastating spring that saw thousands die.

“This is our LAST chance to stop a second wave,” Mr. de Blasio wrote on Twitter. “We can do it, but we have to act NOW.”

Cases have since been rising across all five boroughs, including Staten Island, which has long bristled at virus-related limits. Over the past week, New York City has seen an average of 1,142 cases a day, a jump of 77 percent from just two weeks earlier.

Mr. Cuomo said on Wednesday that parts of Staten Island would be designated a “yellow zone” in his color-coded tier system of restrictions, which requires more testing in schools.

The state has also designated parts of Port Chester, a suburban community of about 29,000 in Westchester County on the border with…