Only days after New Hampshire restaurants were allowed to begin offering indoor dining, they’re clamoring to remove virtually all restrictions, including requiring tables be separated.
On June 15, restaurants, previously restricted to outdoor dining and takeout, began seating customers inside, at 50% capacity in four southern counties and 100% in the rest of the state. But they still must limit tables to six customers and maintain six feet of separation between tables. The idea is that with the combination of indoor/outdoor seating, they could serve about the same number of customers, at least when the weather is nice.
But the NH Lodging and Restaurant Association maintains that about two-thirds of restaurants are not opening for indoor seating because they don’t have the space or the capacity and the table separation rule means that many of them end up having to operate at half-capacity anyway.
“All the aid and support from state and federal government is running out and 50% isn’t going to cut it for a lot of folks,” NHLRA President Mike Somers told the Governor’s Economic Re-opening Task Force on Wednesday. The advisory panel is considering phase 2 guidelines for the accommodations and food service industry.
“If we are legitimately trying to maintain these businesses, I think we have to take another step here,” said Somers.
But Somers’ plea was one of the few industry proposals that got some pushback from the task force.
“We are not requiring (customer) masking,” said Rep. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton. “The general rule of thumb is we have masks or we have six feet. Pick one.”
The phase 2 proposals came shortly before Gov. Chris Sununu released the last phase 1 guidelines for amusement parks and theaters, which are due to open June 29. (In anticipation, Canobie Lake Park in Salem announced plans to open on July 16 and several movie theaters have disclosed plans reopen in late June or early July.)
Amusement parks will only be allowed to open at 25% capacity, and theaters at half capacity to encourage social distancing and to allow for six feet of separation.
Physical distancing and masking is one of the “best tools in the toolbox,” Sununu said at the press conference announcing the guidelines. Other states have “not only opened up too fast, but lost sight of the dangers of Covid.”
Sununu added that he would be looking at the data, but amusement parks might stick to 25% capacity for the entire summer, and “I can’t imagine going back” on the half capacity in movie theaters.
He added that people over 60, or those with anyone at risk at home, are “not advised” to take in a show.
At one point, Sununu said people should feel “a little worried and anxious” because they will avoid risks, and that’s one of the reasons the number of coronavirus infections is declining. On Thursday the number of new reported cases fell to 17, the lowest number in months.