WEST LEBANON — Restaurants in New Hampshire will start offering outdoor dining Monday as part of the state’s “Stay at Home 2.0” phased reopening.
Under the plan, restaurants must place tables more than 6 feet apart and offer hand sanitizer to guests and employees.
No more than six guests will be allowed to sit at a single table, and bars and indoor seating will not be allowed.
Restaurants also are advised to ask customers to wear a mask or face covering while entering, leaving or getting up to use a restroom. Marks aren’t required when people are sitting, according to the emergency order signed by Gov. Chris Sununu.
Lebanon and Hanover prepared for the reopening by setting aside outdoor and parking spaces for patrons.
In downtown Lebanon, parking spaces in front of Salt hill Pub and the city’s temporary offices on West Park Street will be used for tables. Court Street also will be blocked to traffic to make for the pub and a tented dining area for Three Tomatoes Trattoria.
The traffic changes took effect Friday and will be in effect to Sept. 15, according to the city.
One person died and an additional 41 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in New Hampshire, public health officials announced Sunday.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services identified the person who died as a woman from Hillsborough County who was 60 or older, according to a news release.
The state also announced 12 more people were hospitalized with coronavirus, bringing the total to 359, or 10% of cases.
Rockingham County saw the largest increases in cases with nine, Manchester recorded 13 new cases, while Hillsborough County outside of Manchester and Nashua had six.
Meanwhile, the Vermont Health Department reported six more people testing positive for the coronavirus on Sunday for a total of 940 cases. One additional death was reported — the first in more than a week — for a total of 54.
Two of the state’s most popular liquor stores are now offering curbside pickup.
New Hampshire liquor stores have remained open under the governor’s stay-at-home order, and workers have been given weekly stipends to supplement their paychecks. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission this week began a pilot program at the stores along I-95 in Hampton and the northbound side of I-93 in Hooksett for curbside and in-store pickup.
Customers can order online and schedule pickups the next day at the earliest.
Gov. Phil Scott thanked University of Vermont graduates Sunday for their response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“All the sacrifices you’ve made literally saved the lives of hundreds of Vermonters,” he said in a message recorded as part of a video celebration. The best measure of someone’s character is often how one responds to a challenge, he said, singling out nursing students who graduated early for specific praise.
“The grit and determination of the Class of 2020 is inspiring to us all,” he said. “It’s proven that you’re ready for whatever life will throw at you.”
Three pastors spoke to a crowd of about 300 people Saturday outside the Statehouse, standing a few feet away from signs spelling out the prohibition on gatherings of 10 people or more.
The event featured prayers, songs and speeches from organizers of the ReOpenNH movement, which has criticized Sununu, a Republican, for issuing orders they believe infringe on their religious rights. Former state Rep. J.R. Hoell said he reminded the crowd that lawmakers also are to blame.
“They’re equally complicit in these rules because they haven’t undone them,” he said in a phone interview. “They were equally negligent in closing the state and they need to reopen it now.”
Sununu said the religious leaders he’s spoken to want to take things slowly.
The ACLU of New Hampshire said Saturday it was notified that an inmate at Strafford County Jail in Dover has tested positive for COVID-19.
In addition, Strafford County authorities said an employee at the facility who works as an administrator in the medical area also tested positive for the disease.
The jail houses county inmates and some immigration detainees who are brought there by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223. Material from the Concord Monitor and Associated Press was used in this report.