RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says the state’s restaurants will not be allowed to fully reopen their bars as previously planned.

He announced the decision Tuesday, a day before the state was set to allow people to congregate if practicing social distancing. Instead, restaurants can still operate under Phase 2 restrictions, which allows limited table service in bar areas but generally prohibits sitting at bar counters.

Northam’s office says the decision to keep stricter rules on bars was made because of a spike in virus cases in other states that reopened earlier than Virginia. Over the past few days, Florida, Arizona, Texas and California have closed or otherwise clamped down on bars, shut beaches, rolled back restaurant capacity and put limits on crowds at pools.

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