Gov. Murphy's Big Reopening: What You Can Do Now Amid COVID In NJ

UPDATE: New Jersey's reopening plans were announced prior to the news conference on Monday. Read more: 'Major' COVID Reopening In NJ: Here's What's Planned

NEW JERSEY - Gov Phil Murphy on Monday will make what he considers a "major" announcement on easing restrictions and ramping up vaccinations now that much of the state is already set to restart this week. Much of the state is set to reopen this week (see list below).

Patch will cover Murphy's announcement live at 1 p.m. on Monday. Read more: WATCH LIVE: Gov. Murphy Issues NJ Coronavirus, Reopenings Update

Sources told Patch that the reopening, once again, is not supposed to rival what's been done in California and Connecticut, where the states' leaders have announced dates for "full" reopenings. Don't expect a similar announcement in New Jersey on Monday.

Instead, Murphy continues to insist that his reopenings will be incremental, and he reiterated that position in a weekend news conference. "On Monday, you should expect to hear from us and how we see the continued reopening of the state," Murphy said.

Murphy is expected to make an announcement that could target these areas:

• Indoor dining is currently capped at 50 percent capacity; there is no limit on the number of outdoor diners a restaurant can host. Indoor religious services are capped at 50 percent of a venue’s capacity.
• Beaches access could be expanded after capacities were limited last year.

Murphy said the mass vaccinations and the falling metrics warrant more reopenings, even as "we're not out of the woods" in New Jersey.

"But the numbers are getting better there is just no two ways about it, thank God," Murphy said.

The governor said the positivity rate is under 5 percent for the first time in months.

Even better, the rate of transmission, 0.63, hit its lowest mark since the beginning of the pandemic. A rate above 1.0 is considered uncontrolled community spread, with every infected person spreading to at least one other.

More than 8 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the state, and with more than 30 percent of the population fully vaccinated, several restrictions regarding activities in New Jersey are already shifting.

Here are some areas of New Jersey life that have recently opened up – or have been declared hands-off, for now – and what may happen to them in the future:

Proms, graduations and gatherings

Indoor gathering capacities for the following are set to increase to 50 percent, with a maximum of 250 individuals, on May 10:

• Private catered events (including weddings and school proms)
• Political events
• Funerals
• Memorial services
• Performances

The outdoor gathering limit will increase on May 10th from 200 to 500, a number that Murphy hopes to increase “substantially” by Memorial Day. “That would require all of us doing the right thing, including getting vaccinated,” he said.

Dance floors will also be allowed to open at private catered events (including weddings and school proms) with mask-wearing and social distancing in place, although those expansions do not include bars and nightclubs, Murphy said. The governor said the virus spreads too easily in those settings and the state is not ready to open those up yet.

Dining

During an April 26 press conference, Murphy said he wasn’t ready to expand restaurant capacity yet, though he said he hopes to do so “sooner than later.”

Restaurants and bars are currently operating at 50 percent capacity for indoor dining, excluding employees (there are no numeric capacity limitations on outdoor dining). Banquet halls can host private events at 35 percent of the room capacity or 150 persons. Bar seating is still prohibited.
Murphy said he looks forward to increasing indoor dining capacity limits "in the near future."

While indoor dining is currently capped, there is no limit on the number of outdoor diners a restaurant can host.

Indoor religious services are capped at 50 percent of a venue’s capacity.

Sports and entertainment

Youth summer camps, including day and overnight programs, are permitted to continue this summer, Murphy said. Outdoor amusement businesses, including carnivals and fairs such as the New Jersey State Fair and Six Flags Great Adventure, will also be able to operate at 50 percent capacity beginning May 10.

Outdoor capacity for large venues (1,000 or more fixed seats) will also increase capacity limits to 50 percent with six feet of distancing between groups. The current limit is 30 percent capacity for venues with 2,500 fixed seats or more.

"If you've got a 1,000-seat high school stadium, and you can successfully get to 50 percent capacity and 6 feet apart by doing so ... how many people can you have at your graduation? You could have 1,000 people: 500 in the stand, 500 in the field," Murphy said.

Travel

Domestic travel is allowed for fully vaccinated individuals, as is international travel, according to the CDC. In both cases, residents are not required to receive tests before and after travel. However, if you are only partially vaccinated, the CDC advises that you should not travel at all.

In the Garden State, fully vaccinated people no longer need to quarantine or test negative for domestic travel. Self-quarantines remain voluntary, but officials expect compliance.

Those who are fully vaccinated also don't need to get tested before departing unless their destination requires it, the CDC says. But they still need to show a negative test result or documentation of COVID-19 recovery before boarding an international flight to the United States.

Fully vaccinated people should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel but don't need to self-quarantine after entering the United States.

Just over three million people in New Jersey are fully vaccinated, while another million people have been partially vaccinated. The Garden State needs a total of 4.7 million fully vaccinated by the end of June to meet its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults in six months.

With reporting by Josh Bakan and Tom Davis.