N.J. Halts Bar Seating, Late Dining Hours to Curb Virus Spread
The state’s bars, restaurants and indoor youth sports may be reined in, Murphy said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy ordered restaurants to stop serving indoors at 10 p.m. daily and banned seating at bars, among new restrictions as the state reported more than 7,000 new Covid-19 cases in just 72 hours.
The rules will take effect Thursday, Murphy said at a Trenton news conference. New Jersey over the weekend surpassed 250,000 positive tests since March, and in the past 24 hours topped 1,500 hospitalized for the first time in five months. The testing positivity rate reached 7.52%, from 6.99% on Nov. 4.
The governor will allow restaurant tables to be spaced closer than the current 6-foot minimum, as long as barriers separate parties. That will allow some restaurants to increase capacity. Though bars no longer may allow seating, restaurant diners can be served alcohol at their tables, Murphy said.
“There are certain areas where restaurants stay open later, people’s habits get sloppy,” Murphy said earlier on Fox-TV’s “Good Day New York.” “When you sit at a bar, transmission rates, we’re seeing, are high.”
Outdoor dining and takeout service won’t be affected by the new rules.
Murphy also will order an end to interstate games and tournaments for youth sports, but won’t apply those rules at the college level.
“If you’re playing indoor sports tournaments with other states, we’re seeing transmission not from the sport, but from adjacent activities,” Murphy said on Fox.
The governor said most of the spread appears to occur in gatherings in private homes. “I wouldn’t say more restrictions inside your house, because that’s not feasible,” he said in the interview. “We can’t enforce compliance in somebody’s home, for the most part, unless they’re having some big raucous party.”
Murphy in March closed schools, ordered nonessential businesses to stop operating and mandated social distancing. He relaxed restrictions over several months, though restaurants and retailers are subject to capacity limits and other rules. At the news conference, he stressed that his new policies won’t be nearly as restrictive, but warned that they could become so if New Jerseyans don’t “shake off the pandemic fatigue that we all feel.”
“We have to change our mindset,” Murphy said. “New Jersey is back at levels we thought we left behind months ago.”
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