Gov. Phil Murphy says he's hopeful restaurants will be able to reopen indoor dining in some capacity by the middle of September.

Gov. Murphy paused plans to resume indoor dining at the start of July due to a rise of coronavirus cases in other states.

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Meanwhile, Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone says it's long overdue to get restaurants open again, and constantly pushing back any possible dates will lead to many of them going out of business. 

Monmouth County handed out millions of dollars to small business owners through its CARES Act, but Arnone says time is running out. 

"We've put over $6 million out on the street, out there, in two and a half weeks, and we are going to continue every day," says Arnone. "Every day put money out on the street to try to help our businesses, but there's going to be a day where that help is not going to be out there. They are going to need to have people, patrons, sitting in those businesses. As far as the gyms, the gyms are going to need to consistently move to higher percentages as long as they're acting responsibly."

Arnone says the people in Monmouth County did what they were told by flattening the curve and acting responsibly, and the time to open the restaurants is now.