For the first time in months, New Jersey foodies will soon be able to dine out past 10 p.m.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday morning an executive order that relaxed dining restrictions and lifted the 10 p.m. indoor dining ban that has been in place since November.
The move comes days before the Super Bowl, typically a booming business day for bars, which would have otherwise been stifled by the curfew as the game typically runs past 10 p.m.
Murphy also increased indoor dining capacity to 35% amid statewide case totals and hospitalizations trending downward. Capacity limits had sat at 25% since September. Gyms and indoor entertainment venues also saw 10% increases Wednesday. The new restrictions go into effect on Friday at 6 a.m.
“I feel confident in signing this order because of the recent trends in our hospitals and our rate of transmission,” Murphy said at a COVID-19 press briefing Wednesday. “We believe that we can make this expansion without leading to undue further stress on our health care system.”
Bar seating will remain prohibited. Murphy said counties and municipalities can still enact their own curfew after 8 p.m. if they so choose.
“This approach gives local officials the ability to respond to unique situations where they are noticing non-compliance,” Murphy said.
Bar owners cried foul in November when the curfew was announced, saying the regulations unfairly targeted them. The curfew rendered the night before Thanksgiving and New Years Eve, two of the biggest bar nights of the year, highly unprofitable for much of the industry. Lifting the curfew gives the industry some hope to salvage the Super Bowl, another big bar night.