Shelby County Health Department/Facebook
Shelby County Health Department director Alisa Haushalter speaks at Tuesday’s briefing.
The Shelby County Health Department formally issued a new health directive (No. 17) Wednesday afternoon and the new, looser rules will go into effect Saturday.
Health department officials said Tuesday they would issue the new directive sometime this week. Then, Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph outlined highlights of the directive. No material changes were made in the formal directive delivered Wednesday.
Some big changes allow restaurants to fill their dining rooms to 50 percent capacity, instead of the 25 percent allowed under the previous health directive.
Here are some the other highlights of the new rules as outlined by the health department:
• Lifts the more restrictive measures of the “Safer at Home” health directive No. 16 and returns to safety measures found in health directives 14 and 15 (includes restaurant capacity).
• Focuses on personal responsibility as the measure of how COVID-19 will ultimately impact Shelby County and surrounding communities.
• Nothing is closed per se. Certain businesses that have more interaction with the public have additional, specific safety measures as detailed in the directive.
• Organizers/businesses that want to submit a proposal for a specific event or wish to expand their operations in a manner that is not already addressed in the health directive, should submit a plan through the online portal.
• Schools are strongly encouraged to suspend all school-related close-contact sports at this time.
Read below for the new health directive in full:
[pdf-1]
