New Jersey and California on Monday took incremental steps toward resumption of their pre-pandemic economies by allowing restaurants to begin limited indoor dining, as new coronavirus cases abated nationwide despite some new hotspots.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state’s restaurants could open their indoor dining areas on Friday for the first time since the coronavirus prompted a shutdown in March. But they must limit the number of indoor diners to 25% of their capacity and tables must be spaced in accordance with social-distancing rules, Murphy said on Twitter.
In California, indoor dining will be allowed in San Diego and San Francisco starting on Monday, and some other restrictions will be lifted in nine counties. Gyms, houses of worship and movie theaters will also be allowed to reopen indoors with limited capacity.
Full restrictions continue in the remaining counties – where 80% of the population lives – including the state’s largest, Los Angeles County. But hair salons were allowed to reopen on Monday with modifications in all counties under a system unveiled on Friday by Governor Gavin Newsom.
New Jersey and California are among the few states that have continued to ban indoor dining, according to the National Governors Association.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio nixed the idea of a resumption of indoor dining anytime soon for the city’s thousands of restaurants.
“It would take a huge step forward to get to that point,” de Blasio told a briefing.
Indoor dining with restrictions is permitted in the rest of New York State.
New Jersey and New York were the country’s two hardest-hit states when the virus began spreading in the United States in the spring, but have since brought their infection rates down to among the nation’s lowest.
California, however, reported more new cases of COVID-19 in August than any other state, with nearly 200,000 new infections. The level is down from July, when California reported over 262,000 new cases, according to a Reuters tally.
Nationally, the number of new cases fell 2% last week, the sixth consecutive week of declines. But the number of new infections still averages more than 41,000 a day, and on Sunday the country reached 6 million total cases, nearly a quarter of the world’s total.
The United States also has the most coronavirus-related deaths in the world at over 183,000, and ranks 11th for deaths per capita. Brazil, Peru, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom are among the nations with higher per capita deaths.
Coronavirus cases rose in 10 states, up from eight states a week ago, according to a Reuters analysis of the past two weeks compared with the prior two. Deaths rose in 12 states, compared with 13 states a week ago.
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