North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced on Tuesday all restaurants and bars in the state must close for dine-in customers due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The governor announced his decision Tuesday morning with an executive order, which will go into effect at 5 p.m. Takeout and delivery orders from restaurants are allowed to continue.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Cooper described the situation North Carolina is in as unprecedented.

“This will be a hardship, not only for the restaurants and their owners, but also for the customers who find comfort at their chairs and tables,” said Cooper. “It will also be a hardship for the employees who depend on them for their jobs. We did not come to the decision easily, but North Carolina must keep fighting this pandemic with the right weapons.”

Cooper said his executive order also addresses the service industry workers who may get laid off during the period of no dine-in customers. He said there are five main actions it takes, with the first being the removal of the one-week waiting period to apply for unemployment benefits. It also removes the requirement of a person must be actively looking for different employment during this stretch and allows employees who lose their jobs or have hours reduced due to COVID-19 issues to apply for unemployment benefits. In addition, the order permits applicants to apply for benefits over the phone or online and outlines employers will not be held responsible for benefits paid as a result of COVID-19 claims.

“These change are designed to lessen the hit on our economy and workers’ wallets,” said Cooper. “We know people want to work and that businesses want to stay open. The reality is that many can’t.”

This is the latest action Cooper and authorities have taken to curb the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Cooper announced last week K-12 public schools in North Carolina would be closed for two weeks in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Before Cooper’s announcement, local business leaders in Orange and Durham counties had already organized a GoFundMe to support service workers.

As of Tuesday morning, there are 40 identified cases of coronavirus within North Carolina. At this time, there are no identified cases within Orange County.

You can read Cooper’s full executive order on his website.

Featured image via the Town of Chapel Hill

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