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Philadelphia restaurants open for limited indoor dining for first time in six months
FOX 29's Steve Keeley reports from the Liberty Diner in Holmesburg as they prepare to resume indoor dining.
PHILADELPHIA - Tuesday marks the start of a new beginning for Philadelphia restaurants as they are permitted to resume indoor dining at 25% capacity.
With the resumption comes new rules, including mask requirements and limits on party size.
The city is permitting a maximum of four people to be seated together at an indoor table. Parties larger than four people will be seated at a separate table spaced six feet apart. Outdoor party sizes will remain at six people per table.
Alcohol will only be available when combined with the purchase of a meal and patrons will not be allowed to sit at a bar. Farley clarified that the relaxed restrictions on restaurants do not apply to bars, which must remain closed until further notice.
Waitresses and waiters must wear a face mask and a face shield for additional protection. Diners are only required to wear face masks when they are not seated.
Restaurants will be installing sneeze guards or partitions in their kitchens and at cash registers, host stands, and food pickup areas, where maintaining social distance is difficult.
The city says they will be enforcing these new regulations as much as they can, sending health department staff, or even volunteers, to educate restaurant managers about what exactly they need to do.
Movie theaters and performing arts spaces in Philadelphia also got the green light to reopen, albeit with restrictions, and criminal trials in the the city were expected to restart as potential jurors reported for screening.
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