The Rhode Island Department of Health announced on Thursday that the limit on social gatherings will increase starting on Friday 2/12. The new guidelines allow two households to gather indoors, and three households may gather outdoors. Venues of assembly and houses of worship can increase capacity from 25% to 40%, as long as six feet of spacing is maintained.
In the department's weekly press briefing, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott also announced that bars and bar areas will be permitted to open, with a limit of four people per party and a maximum of two households gathering in a group. Bars must still maintain six feet of spacing or provide plexiglass barriers, which case the spacing may be as little as three feet. Bars and bar areas in restaurants must close at 11pm.
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