Big NJ Reopening Day: What You Can (And Can't) Do Now Amid COVID

NEW JERSEY - Wednesday marks major reopening efforts in an array of areas of New Jersey life, including the restaurant, retail, amusement and personal care service industries. But there are still things you can't do in New Jersey that you can do in neighboring states.

For the first time since March 2020, fully vaccinated New Jerseyans can enjoy maskless outdoor gatherings, sports events, and even enjoy a drink sitting at a bar. The 50-percent capacity limits on restaurants, gyms and houses of worship will be lifted, and nearly everything in New Jersey can go back to some semblance of normality (see the full list of what’s opening below).

Capacity limits on outdoor gatherings – such as parties and events – will also be removed starting Wednesday. All interstate youth sports competitions will also be able to resume and masks can be removed at outdoor sporting events.

Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to address the reopenings and make an announcement on vaccines at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Read more: WATCH LIVE: Gov. Murphy's NJ COVID, Reopening And Vaccine Update

Murphy cited increased statewide vaccination efforts and public health metrics as reasons to begin the hefty restriction lifts. As of Tuesday, the rate of transmission in the state is 0.53 – the lowest it's been since the beginning of the pandemic.

"With our COVID-19 numbers, particularly hospitalizations, trending decisively in the right direction and our vaccination goals within reach, now is the time to take major steps to reopen our economy and loosen both indoor and outdoor gathering and capacity restrictions," Murphy said.

The rollback of pandemic-related restrictions comes just days after Murphy, Ct. Gov. Ned Lamont and NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced “full” reopening including the complete lift of all capacity limits at restaurants, stores, offices and other areas of life starting on Wednesday.

New York and Pennsylvania also announced that they are lifting indoor and outdoor mask restrictions. New Jersey still says that six-foot social distancing should be maintained in all indoor places, including restaurants and at sporting events, and masks should be worn.

As of Wednesday, New Jersey is one of the only states in the Northeast that hasn't made an announcement on lifting indoor mask restrictions. While the governor did lift the state’s outdoor mask mandate on Monday and mentioned that he may drop indoor masking in the coming weeks, Murphy says it’s still too soon for vaccinated New Jerseyans to ditch the masks. Read more: 5 Reasons Why Gov. Murphy Won't Lift NJ COVID-19 Mask Mandate Yet

"We have said if you can socially distance outdoors, you don't need to wear a mask. If you're at an indoor gathering, you're in a bubble with people you've been with. We think we have this thing on the run, and as it relates to public places, we're just not there yet," Murphy said.

Murphy said too many people are still dying and New Jersey's hospitalization rate is still do high to change right now.

"Clearly we did not have a vaccine last August, so before everyone jumps down my throat, it would never have occurred to us to take off the indoor masking guidelines last August even with half the amount of hospitalizations," he said.

"We will do it; there's no question about that. Let's remember, for as much progress we're making, the good news is we're a fraction – literally – how about this? We're 10 percent of the peak because it was 8,270. That's the good news.

"The more challenging news, it's still double what it was last summer. Again, with vaccines, we're in a dramatically different place."

Here's what's happening on Wednesday:

• Complete removal of all percentage capacity limits for indoor and outdoor businesses. This means restaurants and bars can operate at full, normal capacity, as can all retail shops, gyms, movie theaters, etc.

This would include:

• Indoor dining – Currently, indoor dining is limited to 50 percent capacity. Wednesday will remove the 50 percent rule, but maintain the six feet of required distance between tables, except that tables can be closer than six feet where restaurants use partitions that comply with Department of Health requirements. Additionally, the prohibition on more than eight people at a table will be lifted, so large groups can sit together again.
• Retail businesses, which are currently at 50 percent indoor capacity, can be at full capacity
• Gyms, which are currently at 50 percent indoor capacity, can be at full capacity
• Beauty salons and barber shops, which are currently at 50 percent indoor capacity, can be at full capacity
• Indoor amusement and recreation businesses and outdoor amusement and water parks, which are currently limited to 50 percent capacity, can be at full capacity
• Indoor and outdoor pools, which are both currently limited to 50 percent capacity, can be at full capacity.
• Complete removal of all percentage capacity limits for houses of worship, which were limited to 50 percent: Any house of worship or religious center will have no indoor capacity limits. Expect many churches to resume operation as normal after this, if they haven't already.
• Youth sports: Wednesday will be the removal of all prohibitions on indoor interstate youth sports competitions.
• Indoor large venue capacity — Things like ice hockey games at the Prudential Center or indoor concerts still won't be back to 100 percent capacity, which would mean thousands and thousands of people indoors, very close to each other. On Wednesday, the capacity limit for indoor large venues will increase from 20 percent to 30 percent and the definition of a large venue would shift from those with 2,500 fixed seats to those with 1,000 fixed seats. The requirement that individuals or groups of individuals that purchase tickets together remain six feet apart will remain in place.
• Indoor catered events, funerals, memorial services, performances and political activities: These events are currently limited to 50 percent of a room's capacity, up to 250 individuals. Beginning Wednesday, the 50-percent rule goes away but the 250-person limit will remain in place. Individuals and groups will need to remain six feet apart.
• Complete removal of outdoor gathering limits.
• Indoor gathering limit: The state of NJ had advised that gatherings indoors in private homes should be capped at 25 people. On Wednesday, that will rise to 50 people. Commercial gatherings such as conferences, expositions, trade shows, job fairs, meetings of fraternal organizations, events hosted by senior centers, etc. will be capped at 250 people, as long as all attendees can remain six feet apart. So large-scale trade shows, conferences and expositions still cannot resume in the state of New Jersey.

With additional reporting by Anthony Bellano.