Restaurants in New Jersey will be able to open for indoor dining with reduced capacity starting this week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday.
Indoor dining can resume in the Garden State beginning this Friday at 25 percent capacity and with social distancing between tables, Murphy said in a tweet.
“Reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our state’s key industries while continuing to make progress against #COVID19,” Murphy wrote.
Like in New York City, eateries and bars in New Jersey have been open for outdoor dining only since June amid the coronavirus pandemic.
There’s been pressure on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resume indoor dining in the Big Apple, but there is still no timeline for when eateries there can open for indoor dining.
De Blasio has claimed indoor dining is too risky in a dense city like the Big Apple, which was hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis.
The rest of New York state has already resumed indoor dining at limited capacity.