Raleigh, NC More customers will be admitted to restaurants, bars, shops, gyms and other businesses as North Carolina again relaxes its restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Governor Roy Cooper’s executive order with the latest changes, including an end to 11 p.m. curfew on the sale of on-site alcohol for consumption, will take effect Friday at 5 p.m.
Cooper said the relaxed rules may be because North Carolina’s trend lines continue to improve with the virus.
The state has been at or below its 5 percent target for positive coronavirus tests for the past two weeks, although the rate was 6.3 percent Tuesday. The daily average of new infections remains below 2,000 and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 remains below 1,000.
More people are also vaccinated against the virus every day. Nearly 19 percent of adults in North Carolina have been fully immunized, while an additional 13 percent received the first injection of a two-dose regimen.
“I am happy that we remain stable and that our numbers remain stable,” Cooper said at a press conference.
Under the new implementing decree, the following capacity limits have been changed:
- Shops, salons, hairdressers, museums and aquariums can again operate at 100 percent capacity. All were previously limited to 50 percent capacity.
- Restaurants, breweries, wineries, gyms, swimming pools, ice rinks, bowling alleys, and amusement parks can operate indoors 75 percent indoors and 100 percent outdoors. They are all limited to 50 percent capacity.
- Bars, cinemas, conference centers and arenas can operate at 50 percent capacity both indoors and outdoors. Bars were only allowed to reopen to indoor shoppers a month ago, and they and entertainment arenas are limited to 30 percent capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.
In addition, Cooper’s new order doubles the limits for large gatherings, up to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. The limit for indoor collection was 10 people until a month ago.
In all cases, Cooper said, companies must maintain a distance of at least 6 feet between customers, meaning some companies may not be able to reach the new capacity limits.
“These are important changes, but they can be done safely,” Cooper said. “But I emphasize this: this pandemic is not over yet. We can only control this virus while easing restrictions if people act responsibly and follow safety protocols.”
To this end, the mask mandate remains in force statewide under the new order.
“We are delighted to bring in more people, [but] For us, the driving factor is still distance, “said Greg Hatem, who owns several restaurants in downtown Raleigh.” The goal is to keep everyone safe. We don’t want to serve chicken kebobs with a side of COVID. “
Parker Kennedy, owner of Cafe Luna in downtown Raleigh, has reconfigured one of his dining rooms to the new guidelines and said it could fit in 30 people.
“Everything is six feet apart,” said Kennedy. “The situation is getting better every day.”
Hatem said the changes will reach more customers, noting that he is looking for more employees to help them. Its workforce is now about 60 percent of what it was before the pandemic.
“It’s great because people want to get out, people want to enjoy life, people want to have a good time,” said a Raleigh resident who identified himself only as “Clifton.”
The Carolina Hurricanes immediately made more tickets available for Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay, and tickets for upcoming games at the PNC Arena in Raleigh will go on sale next week.
“We have seen, heard and felt the impact our Caniacs have had since reopening our doors earlier this month. We remain interested in capacity expansion and will do so safely,” tweeted Don Waddell, Hurricanes president and chief executive officer.
But Heather Strickland, executive director of Raleigh Little Theater, said there is still a lot to do to ensure theatergoers’ safety before she sells more tickets.
“Part of it is making sure we have enough staff to make sure people stay Masked and distant, “Strickland said.” Thousand people [in the outdoor amphitheater] sounds like one crowd. That’s just the risk goes up. The bigger the crowd, the higher the risk of COVID spreading, and so do we does not want – absolutely not – to be a place where that potential is high risk. “
Zack Medford, president of the North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association, tempered his excitement about the increased capacity limit and the end of the 11 p.m. curfew with persistent criticism of how state regulations have toughened up on bars during the pandemic.
“Running a business with drastically limited capacity and hours is a daunting task, especially if your business has been forcibly closed for more than 11 months. We are so excited to get back to normal,” Medford said in a statement. “Bars still face tougher restrictions than restaurant bars, hotel bars and strip club bars, but if you can serve until 2am, that’s a game changer.”
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the State Department of Health and Human Services, said bars remain a high-risk site for virus transmission, which is why limits are stricter there than for restaurants. People sit without a mask for extended periods of time and become noisy, boisterous and less inhibited while drinking, she said.
Darren Bridger, co-owner of London Bridge Pub in the center of Raleigh, said his staff is ready to welcome more customers and keep serving drinks until 2am.
“It will help, of course, but nothing can make up for the loss of income over the past year,” said Bridger, noting that the state pushed the last call from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm last month and increased sales by 50 percent.
“If we could do that jump again, at 2am, we would be quite comfortable leaving everything behind and using this as our starting point,” he said. ‘There are plenty of people who say they are just ready [and] let’s just keep going, but I think it’s wise to at least keep going with the 50 percent capacity until we figure out the impact of 2am. “
Dr. David Wohil, an infectious disease expert at UNC Health, agreed it’s too early to open everything up again.
‘I won’t be going to restaurants any more soon. I don’t go to gigs, “Wohl said.” We are not out of the forest – we are far from the forest – and we could see a revival as we see it in Europe. “
WRAL reporters Keely Arthur, Leslie Moreno and Kirsten Gutiérrez contributed to this report.