Indoor dining will no longer resume July 2, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said today.
The state planned to ease dining restrictions starting this week, but after COVID-19 spikes in other states that enacted similar policies, New Jersey officials decided to postpone the start of indoor dining indefinitely. Murphy cited issues like overcrowding, lack of face masks and little social distancing across the country.
According to the Washington Post, seven states have seen coronavirus spikes after reopening the first two weeks of June: Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. There were 800 coronavirus deaths June 23—the first daily increase since June 7. Since reopening, Texas and Arizona each saw 5,000 new cases in a one-day period, new peaks for both states.
“We have been cautious throughout every step of our restart,” Murphy said in a tweet. “We’ve always said that we would not hesitate to hit pause if needed to safeguard public health. This is one of those times.”
