Bars will close at midnight Wednesday and restaurants will now close at 10 p.m. on new restrictions from public health officials to curb the rising cases of COVID-19 in Shelby County.
The new restrictions were announced during the Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force news briefing Tuesday. A new health directive with more detailed information on the new restrictions will be published later today.
Shelby County Health Department director Dr. Alisa Haushalter said the decision to make the new restrictions came as bars and restaurants across the U.S. are known to have higher levels of virus transmission. Haushalter said wearing a mask is difficult when drinking at a bar.
She said masking mandates here have not been enough to get enough people to actually wearing them. So, the second step to curb the virus is to begin restrictions in places where transmissions are likely to occur.
Here’s the directive: [pdf-1]
