New health order says restaurants and bars can resume normal opening hours

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County bars and restaurants will no longer have to close earlier on Thursday.

The Columbia / Boone County Department of Health and Human Services issued a modified coronavirus health order on Monday, which removes the requirement that restaurants serving alcohol and bars close earlier. The modified order also increased the meeting limit from 20 to 50 people and increased participation in the event to 50% of the venue’s capacity or 200 people.

The order expires on March 24.

Browning said in a press release presenting the modified order that Boone County continues to see a decrease in the number of COVID-19 infections and the five-day continuous average of new cases has dropped significantly. That average was 17 on Sunday – down 68% since February 7, according to the statement.

“We remain hopeful that infections will continue to decrease with changes in the Health Order, but it is important for our community to continue with the COVID protocols – social detachment, masking and hand washing – which have proved effective in controlling the spread of COVID-19. “said Browning.

Order modifications include:

• All meetings or meeting places are limited to 50 people, including public and private meetings, unless otherwise specified in the Order. Social distancing requirements and / or face mask requirements must be observed.
• Restaurants, bars and entertainment venues may resume normal opening hours, subject to the operational requirements set out in the order. (The closing time was midnight in the previous order.)
• Bar service and buffet service are allowed with social distance and mask requirements. Customers are required to wear masks when they are not seated. Bar and buffet service had been banned in previous orders.
• Entertainment facilities are limited to 200 people and must have an operations plan approved by the health director. The previous order set the limit at 100.
• Capacity in children’s entertainment facilities and arcades will be limited to 100 children, with total capacity limited to 200 people. An operational plan is needed. The previous request listed 50 children and 100 individuals in total.
• Indoor sports are limited to 50% of their capacity as spectators or 100 people. Outdoor sports are limited to 50% or 200 people.
• Social detachment is necessary for personal care services. Companies must follow the mask requirements, except when necessary to provide services for which social distance or the mask is not possible.

The health department said the updated business and sports guidelines will be released by the end of the week.

Sara Humm, of the health department, said that numbers like numbers of active cases look really good at removing restrictions and have remained low for a considerable period.

“We had a very difficult drop. In November we saw some really high numbers, but since the end of December we have seen a much smaller number of positive cases, which is really encouraging,” she said.

She also said that hospitals are doing well and contact trackers are able to keep track of the workload, something they were unable to do during the height of the pandemic.

With the new capacity limits, Humm said that it will be even more important for people to wear masks and social distance, as the data shows that these are important factors to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Humm said the health department and director Stephanie Browning spoke to local business owners to hear their concerns and opinions about local restrictions.

“This is also taken into account how we can ensure that we are supporting our local businesses and, at the same time, taking the necessary steps to keep our community safe,” she said.

Jame Kanne owns the 9th Street Public House in downtown Columbia. He had previously said that increasing working hours would benefit local businesses, especially bars and restaurants.

“I will say that midnight, which was a gift we did not expect, changed the game overnight to the point where I would say that we almost doubled sales,” he said.

He said the extra time will allow companies to decide whether to stay open later and give them the opportunity to make more money.

He said companies like bars will have to continue telling people to wear their masks and follow the guidelines while remaining open until later.

Kanne said he was happy that bar services could be resumed and that he thought customers would be happy too.

“That’s what we do. We want people sitting at the bar. That’s why we built it,” he said.

Kanne said he hopes to see more entertainment in Columbia when the changes take effect. He said that some places that have been closed may reopen because the more flexible restrictions would allow them to do, in some way, what they did before the pandemic.

Kanne said his team still needed to discuss what would change with the new order.

“It pays to adjust to anything that gives us a chance, advantage, to do better, so it gives us an opportunity to hire employees, add more shifts, more hours to our current employees, things like that,” he said.