Indoor Dining Starts Back Up in New Jersey This Week, With Restrictions

Indoor dining is set to resume in New Jersey on Friday, September 4, just a few days before it returns to Philly. Gov. Phil Murphy made the announcement Monday. Same as in Philly, New Jersey restaurants will be limited to 25 percent capacity, with tables spaced apart.

While in Philly the decision was made to postpone indoor dining until after Labor Day, New Jerseyans and visitors, including summer crowds at the Jersey Shore, will be able to eat indoors during the holiday weekend.

Indoor dining in New Jersey and the reopening of Atlantic City casinos was originally scheduled for July 2, just ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend. The casinos did open, but indoor dining was postponed, with the governor saying he wanted to avoid a spike in coronavirus cases. At the time, he pointed to “instances of knucklehead behavior,” including people ignoring social-distancing rules and not wearing masks.

The state started allowing outdoor dining in mid-June.

New Jersey has had 191,611 confirmed coronavirus cases since February 21. On August 26, the test positivity rate was 1 percent.

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