COVID limits changing in time for the summer
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
TRENTON – Gov. Phil Murphy announced the “most aggressive steps” yet to reopen New Jersey’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a slew of eased restrictions coming May 19 – well before Memorial Day weekend.
These should come as great comfort to businesses at the Jersey shore, given that the holiday weekend is the unofficial kickoff to the summer season. Last year the restrictions were severe and didn’t ease up until the July Fourth weekend – and even then the limits greatly restricted most businesses.
That is changing in time for this summer season.
The governor stressed the same mantra he used throughout the past year that all decisions about the state’s economy would be based on public health metrics, not politics. And those metrics have been improving steadily.
In his coronavirus press conference Monday, Murphy announced a range of percentage capacity restrictions would be dropped so long as businesses – from bars and restaurants to retailers – ensured customers would continue to mask up and socially distance indoors.
Gone May 19 is the 50 percent capacity on restaurants and bars. They will be allowed to operate at whatever capacity they can provided groups at tables are kept at least 6 feet apart.
That aligns indoor dining with outdoor dining, which had been allowed without restrictions except for the distance between tables.
Gone will be the limits of a maximum of eight people per table, and tables may be closer than 6 feet if there are partitions between them. Seating will be allowed again at bars, but there must be social distancing between customer groups or partitions.
For other indoor settings, the 50 percent limit will be dropped but the requirement will remain to have 6 feet between groups. Those settings include religious services, retail establishments, casinos, gyms and fitness clubs, personal care businesses, indoor and outdoor amusement and recreation businesses, and indoor and outdoor pools.
For private gatherings, such as birthday parties, the limit of people in one location has increased to 50.
For large indoor venues – those with at least 1,000 fixed seats – they will be allowed to operate at 30 percent capacity (with masking and social distancing between groups).
Indoor catered events, funerals, memorial services, performances, political activities and commercial gatherings such as conferences and trade shows will be allowed to have up to 250 people so long as social distancing is maintained.
For all indoor activities, face masks will be required unless people are eating or drinking.
As of May 19, the state is lifting its prohibition on buffets and other self-service foods at restaurants.
The state also will completely remove limits on outdoor gatherings (with safety protocols in place), meaning events associated with summer such as fireworks, parades and the state fair, can all take place – another major change that limited events at the shore last summer.
Much of these eased restrictions are being done in concert with New York and Connecticut.
“These steps will take effect … on May 19 so long as we don’t see a backslide in our metrics,” Murphy said. “Given tremendous work that so many of you are putting in to improve our numbers, I have every expectation … we will hit this May 19 target date with a bull’s-eye.
“These are the most aggressive steps we have taken to reopen to date and we feel confident we can do this safely because our numbers have trended decisively in the right direction over the past three weeks.”