Gov. Phil Murphy says that New Jersey will not be joining New York City and Pennsylvania in shutting down indoor dining for a second time during the pandemic.
Murphy said Friday that he and his coronavirus team are comfortable leaving indoor dining where it has been – at 25% capacity and a 150-person upper limit.
But the governor said that he would be keeping his eye on New York and Pennsylvania residents who cross the border to the Garden State to enjoy indoor dining and whether that could drive COVID cases in the future.
Indoor dining in New Jersey is still mandated to close by 10 p.m. Murphy said that part of his administration’s strategy when it comes to the virus is to be as surgical as possible.
“We have 565 communities. We’re on top of each other. That’s for sure. But our largest one only has 300,000 people. Out of state has 9 million. That’s a very different dynamic than New York state has or Massachusetts with Boston,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that this does not mean an end to the pandemic coordination his administration has with New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He says that he has not spoken to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week, but that his team did get a heads up that the New York City indoor dining closures was coming.