Buffets, Bar Seating Coming Back To NJ: Here Are The New Rules

NEW JERSEY — Starting this weekend you can grab a drink at the bar or some grub from the buffet as the Garden State is relaxing COVID-19 restrictions Friday.

This news, paired with people being allowed to dine indoors and gather outside is the largest step forward New Jersey has taken in the 14 months since COVID-19 first reached the Garden State.

The prohibition on indoor bar-side seating and self serve food will be lifted May 7, Gov. Phil Murphy said in an announcement that called for many indoor and outdoor gathering limits to be lifted by mid-May.

“These are big, big steps," Murphy said Monday. "We've heard from countless restaurants … [the prohibition of bar-side seating] was one of their biggest restrictions on being able to get people in under their capacity restriction… so we believe that the combination of bar seating and saying you've got no capacity inside as long as you're 6 feet apart is meaningful.”

While capacity limits will lift in most places in the city and state, Murphy said they must observe a 6-foot social distancing recommendation set by the CDC. Murphy noted that while he had "no inside knowledge" he would be watching the CDC guidelines and would expect that the distancing requirements could change as the COVID numbers change nationwide.

The change in the rules was also accelerated from May 10 to May 7.

"We feel confident in moving up this timetable by three days given the accelerated progress we are seeing in our vaccination program and hospital metrics and lower daily case counts," Murphy said.

Assuming all goes well, the next step will be the coordinated effort between New York, New Jersey and Connecticut governors to remove capacity limits at restaurants, stores, offices and other areas of life by May 19 in the tri-state area.

A key part of that plan is vaccinations. And as part of an effort to increase vaccinations in New Jersey (and get to the state’s target adult vaccination goal of 70 percent of the adult population by the end of June), several new initiatives are on the way to get the vaccine into more arms.

Dubbed “Operation Jersey Summer,” the effort involves initiatives such as walk-in appointments at vaccine megasites, automated outgoing calls to residents and the “Grateful for the Shot” program, in which residents can receive free transportation to a vaccination appointment following a service at a house of worship.

"There is one thing we can do above all else to ensure our COVID numbers keep going down, especially as we reopen further," Murphy said. "Get vaccinated."

This post contains reporting by Nicole Rosenthal

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