At his press conference on Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper announced that he will be signing a new executive order, effectively easing more pandemic restrictions.

The order, which will go into effect on Friday, March 26 will allow some businesses to increase capacity up to 100 percent indoors and outdoors with safety protocols in place. This includes museums, aquariums, retail businesses and shops, salons and personal care shops.

“The new order will allow some places to increase capacity up to 75 percent indoors and up to 100 percent outdoors,” Cooper said. “They include restaurants, breweries, wineries, amusement parks, gyms and pools, and other recreation establishments.”

Under Executive Order 204, bars, movie theaters, auditoriums and sports arenas can open indoors and outdoors at a 50 percent capacity, subject to masks and social distancing.

Cooper said the mass gathering limit, which covers other kinds of gatherings not laid out in the order, will be increased to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors. The previous mass gathering limit was 25 indoors and 50 outdoors.

In addition, effective Friday, North Carolina will lift its 11 p.m. curfew for on-site alcohol consumption. Cooper had previously modified the state’s alcohol curfew, extending sale hours from 10 to 11 p.m., in February.

Other safety protocols, including the state mask mandate, will remain in place.

These changes come as North Carolina continues to see decreased hospitalizations and the number of positive COVID-19 tests hovers around the five percent benchmark.

“Another cause for optimism is North Carolina’s success with our vaccine distribution,” Cooper said. “As of today, we have administered more than 4.1 million doses. Almost a third of adults have received at least one dose, and 18.8 percent are fully vaccinated.”

Under the previous executive order, enacted on February 26, bars and taverns were able to open indoors for the first time since the start of the pandemic and some businesses and venues were able to expand their occupancy to 50 percent capacity.

Executive Order 204 will take effect March 26 at 5 p.m. and is set to expire on April 30.

 

Lead photo via the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

 

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