Gov. Phil Murphy signed a much-anticipated order late in the evening on June 26, outlining how restaurants can once again offer indoor dining, as the COVID-19 pandemic – at least for now – continues to slow down in the state.

For the most part, indoor dining requirements are bound to the same rules that governed outdoor dining, allowed since June 15. In turn, much of the experience will be nothing new for customers, workers and business owners.

Along with casinos, indoor dining will resume on July 2, just two days before the July Fourth weekend, allowing business owners to capture some of the revenue they lost over the summer.

Face coverings are required for all restaurant staff, and customers when they’re away from the table. Chairs, tables and other frequently touched areas need to be disinfected and sanitized in between guests. Tables are limited to groups of eight people, and the tables must be spaced 6 feet apart. Indoor capacity is capped at 25 percent.

The Friday evening executive order, and the accompanying directive from the public health department, outline several requirements meant to prevent the standing-only, typically younger crowds, that might pack into a popular establishment or watering hole.

Patrons can only place orders when they are seated. Waitstaff can only bring food or drink to customers when they are seated, and those patrons can only eat and drink while sitting down.

That means patrons “cannot walk around with their beverages,” reads a statement from the governor’s office accompanying the Friday orders. Neither the directive nor order appear to extend that same requirement to outdoor dining.

But with the virus surging across the nation, and New Jersey seeing a slow, gradual increase in its spread over several days in the past week, Murphy has warned that he may have to put the brakes on a slew of reopenings scheduled for the days leading up to July 4.

The rates of transmission and positivity of the virus – two of the three metrics to gauge whether the virus is spreading, have all ticked up from day to day – and “that’s something that we’re watching very, very carefully,” the governor said. The third metric is hospitalizations, which have remained relatively stable.

Meanwhile, a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the state are among those 18 to 29 years of age.

In April, that age group made up 12 percent of new COVID-19 cases. Now that’s up to 22 percent, according to State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

Murphy said last week that he’s “convinced that this is [the result of] intensely close-proximity, indoor realities,” including overcrowded Morristown and Belmar bars over a week ago, which the health commissioner said were particularly worrying.

“Individuals were packed together in these locations, which raises the risk of spreading COVID-19 to one another,” Persichilli said last week.