PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Delaware is lifting all COVID-19 indoor capacity restrictions and decreasing social distancing requirements from 6 to 3 feet, effective on May 21.
As long as restaurants, retail shops, places of worship and other businesses can meet those requirements, they can use as much space as they have.
Masks are still required indoors.
Delawareans should follow outdoor masking guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advises mask-wearing in large gatherings of unvaccinated people or crowded venues. Fully vaccinated people can forgo masks outside if they are distanced from others.
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Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay said you’ll still have to stay seated if you’re going out for a night on the town.
“For bars and restaurants, when people are standing or dancing it’s much more difficult to keep a distance, even three feet distance," Rattay explained.
Exceptions can be made if the health department approves. The department also still must approve any event with 250 people or more.
Governor John Carney says it’s no coincidence this announcement comes as similar ones are being made in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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“This is the biggest step toward loosening restrictions that we’ve had in the past year," said Carney.
“This is very consistent with what we’ve been seeing in states surrounding us. We are always in communication with the teams of those states, so we know that positive cases are declining in their states. Conditions are getting better there."
The Governor added the stress and anxiety he felt months ago is going away fast thanks to vaccinations. However, he said vaccination levels still need to improve in the state.
“We still need to do more," Carney added. "70%, 80% will be way better than 40% as we are now.”
He did not say how many fully vaccinated people it will take to ditch the face covering requirements.