Effective this coming Memorial Day weekend, every Atlantic City casino will be free to welcome visitors with no mandate in place, either for mask-wearing indoors or for social distancing.
That’s thanks to an executive order signed and announced by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday.
That means casinos — just as they head into their most lucrative three months of the calendar year — can now, along with other businesses in the state, permit dancing on dance floors as well as eating and drinking while standing at bars. Casinos are specifically mentioned in the end-of-social-distancing-requirements portion of the announcement, along with retail stores, gyms, weddings, funerals, sporting events, and performances.
Private businesses will retain the option of mandating mask usage anyway, but face the risk that many entertainment-starved consumers will be free to ditch the mask at the place next door or across the street.