Briana Vannozzi reports for NJTV News

Today marks another big step forward in New Jersey’s coronavirus recovery plan.

Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend there are a number of reopenings including casinos, amusement parks, museums and libraries, to name just a few.

Indoor dining is still on an indefinite pause, and the governor warned he’ll scale back reopenings if the same large crowds without masks gather at sites across the state.

Gov. Phil Murphy extended the public health emergency for another 30 days to keep his executive orders in place. While signing another, in contrast, that raises the limit on crowd sizes for outdoor gatherings to 500 people, effective today.

The limits on indoor gatherings remain. Despite progress slowing the virus, the state reported another 27 COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday. Total confirmed and probable fatalities is 15,105.

There were 539 new positive test results overnight for a cumulative total of 172,356.

The state also announced another roughly 130 contact tracers have been on-boarded over the past week to help prevent new cases that become flare ups and threaten the state’s recovery.

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