Safety Protocols Revealed for Businesses Reopening This Month

By Jim Pytell, Assistant Editor On Jun 4, 2020

At today’s COVID-19 press briefing, Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled the specific safety protocols that will need to be followed by businesses that are allowed to reopen this month. 

These include non-essential retail and outdoor dining for restaurants, which will be allowed to open on June 15, as well as hair salons and barber shops, which will be allowed to open on June 22.

Guidances are the same as those that have governed essential retail stores that have been open for the past few months, and include limiting the number of customers inside a store to 50% capacity. Customers and employees will be required to wear face coverings, and physical barriers between customers and employees should be erected where practicable. Stores must also regularly sanitize areas used by employees, and provide special shopping hours for individuals at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 wherever possible.

Restaurants that will be providing outdoor dining must check their staff daily for symptoms of COVID-19, and all staff must wear face coverings and gloves when in contact with food and customers.

Seating must be limited to a maximum of eight customers per table, and all tables must be a minimum of six feet apart. All shared items, such as tables, chairs, menus and utensils, must be disinfected after each use.

The full list of guidance for establishments looking to provide outdoor dining can be found here.

Unemployment Update

Murphy said that a total of 26,752 new unemployment claims were made last week.

“[This continues] a decline that we have seen over the past four weeks, but is still an astronomical number of newly unemployed,” Murphy said.

A total of 1.2 million people have filed for unemployment in New Jersey since March, and the state’s unemployment system has paid out a total of $5.2 billion to those who have filed.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

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