New Jersey Administrative Code › Title - EXECUTIVE ORDERS › Title 55 - CHRIS CHRISTIE › Section - Executive Order No. 239 (2021)

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
Governor Philip D. Murphy
Executive Order No. 239 (2021)
An Order Implementing the Second Phase of COVID-19 Restriction Easing
Issued: May 12, 2021.
Effective: May 19, 2021.
WHEREAS, in light of the dangers posed by Coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19"), I issued Executive Order No. 103 on March 9, 2020, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, which declared both a Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency; and
WHEREAS, through Executive Order Nos. 119, 138, 151, 162, 171, 180, 186, 191, 200, 210, 215, and 231, issued on April 7, 2020, May 6, 2020, June 4, 2020, July 2, 2020, August 1, 2020, August 27, 2020, September 25, 2020, October 24, 2020, November 22, 2020, December 21, 2020, January 19, 2021, February 17, 2021, March 17, 2021, and April 15, 2021, respectively, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, I declared that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency continued to exist and declared that all Executive Orders and Administrative Orders adopted in whole or in part in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency remained in full force and effect; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with N.J.S.A. App. A:9-34 and -51, I reserve the right to utilize and employ all available resources of State government to protect against the emergency created by COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, as COVID-19 continued to spread across New Jersey, I have issued a series of Executive Orders pursuant to my authority under the New Jersey Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act and the Emergency Health Powers Act, to protect the public health, safety, and welfare against the emergency created by COVID-19, including Executive Order Nos. 104-133, Nos. 135138, Nos. 140-166, Nos. 168-173, No. 175, Nos. 177-181, No. 183, Nos. 186-187, Nos. 189-198, No. 200, Nos. 203-204, No. 207, and Nos. 210-211 (2020) and Nos. 214-216, Nos. 219-220, Nos. 222-223, No. 225, Nos. 228-235 and Nos. 237-238 (2021), the facts and circumstances of which are all adopted by reference herein; and
WHEREAS, to limit community spread from person-to-person contact through use of social mitigation measures, Executive Order No. 107 (2020) closed certain businesses, including recreational and entertainment businesses, and limited certain activities, including gatherings; and
WHEREAS, after consultation with officials from the Department of Health ("DOH"), I announced a multi-stage New Jersey's Road Back Plan for the methodical and strategic reopening of businesses and activities based on scientific data and metrics concerning the level of disease transmission risk and essential classification; and
WHEREAS, because of the progress we had made in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey, I was able to announce a series of reopening steps over the course of several months, including increasing the indoor and outdoor gathering limit; and
WHEREAS, indoor dining was permitted to resume on September 4, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order No. 183, with strict health and safety protocols in place, including limiting the number of patrons to 25 percent of the establishment's stated maximum capacity; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 157 (2020) permitted certain recreation and entertainment businesses, to open their indoor premises subject to their compliance with specified health and safety protocols, including the same 25 percent capacity limitation; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 157 (2020) permitted casinos and racetracks to resume operations conditioned on their compliance with requirements imposed by the Division of Gaming Enforcement and New Jersey Racing Commission; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 181 (2020), permitted gyms, fitness centers, and health clubs to open their indoor spaces to the public at 25 percent of the facility's stated maximum capacity; and
WHEREAS, personal care service facilities were permitted to reopen their premises to the public pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Executive Order No. 157 (2020); and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 194 (2020) clarified that premises of indoor facilities providing personal care services are limited to 25 percent of the stated maximum capacity; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 219 (2021) increased the indoor capacity for the aforementioned businesses from 25 percent to 35 percent; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 230 (2021) again increased indoor capacity for certain businesses to 50 percent; and
WHEREAS, the current indoor gatherings limit is set at 25 persons and the current outdoor gatherings limit is set at 500 persons, with certain limited exceptions; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 234 (2021) stated that all athletic practices and competitions conducted outdoors are subject to the 200-person limit, but that athletes, coaches, trainers, and other individuals necessary for the practice or competition are not included in the number of individuals present; and
WHEREAS, that Order also permitted certain catered private events to proceed at 35 percent of the capacity of the room in which they take place, up to 150 persons; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 234 (2021) increased the capacity for larger venues to 30 percent outdoors, and lowered the threshold for a venue to be considered large to 2,500 fixed seats from 5,000; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 238 (2021) most recently increased the capacity for larger entertainment and sports venues with 1,000 fixed seats or more to 50 percent outdoors, and increased the indoor capacity [page=971] for catered events to 50 percent of the room in which they take place, up to 250 persons; and
WHEREAS, in the past year, we have gained critical knowledge regarding COVID-19, including a better understanding of the risks associated with certain activities, the activities that are most conducive to spread of the virus, and the safeguards that can be implemented to mitigate those risks; and
WHEREAS, this information, together with expanded access to testing, personal protective equipment, and other materials necessary to protect individuals from spread of the virus, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 Vaccination Plan ("Plan") discussed below, allows for certain activities to continue subject to more limited restrictions; and
WHEREAS, the number of hospitalized patients, patients in intensive care, and ventilators in use, and the spot positivity of COVID-19 tests have decreased significantly over the past few weeks; and
WHEREAS, given the decisive decreases in key statistics, such as the number of hospitalized patients in the State, and the continuation of the State's Plan, described more fully below, the State can take more significant steps to lift certain restrictions that were designed to limit person-to-person contact; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") has maintained that physical distance of six feet or more is a critical tool in reducing risk in both indoor and outdoor environments, with limited exceptions for K-12 educational settings; and
WHEREAS, it is appropriate to eliminate capacity restrictions on indoor and outdoor businesses and instead utilize physical distancing requirements to limit occupancy in these settings; and
WHEREAS, indoor gatherings are more likely to involve a group of individuals present in a shared space for an extended period of time than businesses in the course of normal operations, and are more likely to involve individuals interacting with each other, so that it is necessary to maintain numerical restrictions on these gatherings in indoor settings at this time; and
WHEREAS, gatherings at private residences are typically more informal than events organized by a commercial entity, so that it is more difficult to enforce health and safety protocols; and
WHEREAS, certain gatherings, including religious services and political activities, are constitutionally protected activities, and restrictions on these gatherings should be less aggressive than restrictions on other gatherings; and
WHEREAS, legislative and judicial proceedings are particularly important to the functioning of the State, the latter of which implicates constitutional rights and foundational privileges, and so should also proceed with less restrictive limits; and
WHEREAS, addiction group counseling services are a critical social and mental health service that necessitate robust group participation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened feelings of stress and social isolation, and thus can exceed the general gathering limit while following health and safety protocols; and
WHEREAS, certain events such as wedding ceremonies, funerals, and memorial services, which typically happen once in a lifetime, provide benefits to the well-being of the participants such that they can be treated differently from casual social gatherings such as house parties, which occur on a more frequent basis and typically do not present the same compelling need; and
WHEREAS, catered celebrations are structured events with an established list of attendees that would facilitate contact tracing efforts, and involve an overseeing entity capable of overseeing attendee and staff compliance with applicable health and safety protocols, so that all such events can operate at the same capacity as weddings, funerals, and similar events with a higher indoor capacity limitation; and
WHEREAS, the CDC has continued to emphasize that outdoor environments pose a lesser risk of transmission of the virus than indoor environments, so that New Jersey can entirely remove the outdoor gathering limit so long as social distancing and other protective measures remain in place; and
WHEREAS, sports and entertainment venues with a large maximum capacity can accommodate a greater number of individuals at a gathering while still ensuring that a minimum of six feet of distance is maintained between patrons or groups of patrons at all times, including at entrances and egresses to the facility; and
WHEREAS, as part of the State's response to COVID-19, DOH has created a comprehensive Plan to manage the receipt, administration, and tracking of the vaccines developed to inoculate the State's residents and workforce against COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, the State has thus far administered nearly 8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to individuals that live, work, and are educated in New Jersey and as of April 19, 2021, has deemed all individuals ages 16 and older as eligible to receive the vaccine; and
WHEREAS, the process of vaccinating the population to levels sufficient to establish community immunity is expected to take several months; and
WHEREAS, while New Jersey continues to vaccinate large numbers of individuals each day, it is still appropriate to maintain mitigation protocols, including overall limits on capacity in establishments open to the public, to ensure spread is limited while dissemination of the vaccine continues; and
WHEREAS, it is critical that individuals continue to follow social distancing, masking, and other infection control protocols while vaccine administration is ongoing in the State; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution and statutes of the State of New Jersey, particularly the provisions of N.J.S.A. 26:13-1et seq., N.J.S.A. App. A: 9-33 et seq., N.J.S.A. 38A:3-6.1, and N.J.S.A. 38A:24 and all amendments and supplements thereto, confer upon the Governor of the State of New Jersey certain emergency powers, which I have invoked;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, PHILIP D. MURPHY, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and by the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT:
1. Restaurants, cafeterias, dining establishments, including private, non-profit clubs, and food courts, with or without a liquor license, bars, and all other holders of a liquor license with retail consumption privileges, collectively referred to as "food or beverage establishments," that are permitted to offer in-person service in indoor areas are not subject to any percentage-based capacity limit but shall limit capacity to a number that ensures all patrons can remain six feet apart from all other patrons at all times, except for those patrons with whom they are sharing a table. Food and beverage establishments must continue to ensure that tables in indoor areas where individuals or groups are seated are six feet apart in all directions from any other table or seat. Patrons at indoor bar areas may be seated closer than six feet to each other if they arrived as part of the same group, but that group must be six feet apart from other patrons or groups. Where six feet of distance is not possible, establishments must erect barriers between tables or at the bar pursuant to DOH's "Health and Safety Standards for Indoor Dining." Paragraph 10 of Executive Order No. 230 (2021) is hereby superseded to the extent that it conflicts with the provisions of this Paragraph.
2. The following businesses that are open to the public are not subject to any percentage-based capacity limit but shall limit occupancy to a number that ensures that all patrons or groups of patrons entering the facility together can remain six feet apart:
a. Indoor premises of retail establishments;
b. Indoor premises of personal care services authorized to reopen their indoor facilities to the public pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Executive Order No. 157 (2020);
c. Indoor premises of "health clubs," as defined by N.J.S.A. 56:8-39, which include gyms and fitness centers, as well as amusement and water parks, authorized to reopen their indoor facilities to the public pursuant to Paragraph 1 of Executive Order No. 181 (2020);
d. Indoor and outdoor premises of recreational and entertainment businesses that were permitted to reopen their indoor facilities to the public pursuant to Paragraph 7 of Executive Order No. 157 (2020), including amusement and water parks; and
e. Indoor premises of casinos, including casino gaming floors and retail sports wagering lounges.
Paragraph 7 of Executive Order No. 157 (2020) and Paragraphs 11-14 of Executive Order No. 230 (2021) are hereby superseded to the extent that they conflict with the provisions of this Paragraph.