Eateries scaled down to 25 percent capacity

By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor

FRANKFORT — With the number of coronavirus cases on the rise in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday that restaurants will be limited to the number of customers they can serve in their dining rooms. As of Tuesday, restaurants are limited to 25 percent of capacity indoors, down from the 50 percent Beshear authorized a few months ago. Outdoor accommodations are limited “only by the ability to provide social distancing,” a press release from the governor said. The restaurant restrictions were one of three new actions Beshear announced Monday to stem the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Kentucky. The other measures include closing bars for two week, which became effective Tuesday, and asking public and private schools to avoid offering in-person instruction until the third week of August.
That measure will not affect school districts in the Big Sandy region. Two districts, Lawrence and Martin counties, plan to begin in-person classes Aug. 26, while Johnson County and Paintsville Independent are scheduled to begin Sept. 1. The Floyd County School District is slated to resume instruction Sept. 8.
Beshear said he felt the latest actions are necessary. “At a time when Kentucky is dealing with a surge in the coronavirus, knowing where other states have gone and knowing what it takes to stop it from happening here, let’s remember that we’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get through this together, but it’s going to require us to do what’s necessary,” Beshear said. “Wherever you live in Kentucky, the virus is spreading. Our state government and the federal administration have significant agreement on what we need to do right now to make sure we don’t turn into Florida, Texas, Arizona, so many other states going through what could be absolutely devastating for them.” Beshear noted that all of Monday’s actions were conceived through and backed by guidance from the White House. He said Kentucky is “currently at a point seen in Florida and Arizona before both of those states saw their cases grow to a point that has threatened their health care infrastructure, which puts even more lives in danger.”