As of 8am Thursday, the limit on social gatherings of persons not in your immediate family unit was increased to 15. Just in time to add a few more folks to your Christmas party. And starting tomorrow at 8am, restaurants can offer dine-in service again, but only at 25 percent capacity.

Governor's Communications director Krystal Paco San Agustin explained, saying, "I know this is a bit conservative, but we want to take it slow and steady as we are seeing the rest of the world is shutting down again and we're slowly opening up. And so we're cautious as we precede as we continue to monitor what's happening across the nation. And if we spike again, knock on wood, it would be more difficult to get those resources that we had so readily available during the first and second wave."

She says bars though are still not allowed to open. They want to continue to proceed with caution, but will monitor the numbers from Christmas to determine if further easing is warranted.

"So our CAR Score, our COVID Area Risk Score, maintains steady at 1.5. That's great news, we have almost 2,000 people vaccinated, so we're well on our way to normalcy or some sense of normalcy," explained Paco-San Agustin. "But again, we have to keep a conservative approach when it comes to reopening."

She adds that outdoor dining at restaurants is also still allowed.