After a month-long attempt to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases, the Municipality of Anchorage is loosening restrictions on businesses.
Starting Monday restaurants, bars, breweries and nightclubs will be allowed to resume indoor, sit-down service, provided they limit capacity to 50%. No standing or bar service is allowed. Tables are required to be spaced at least six feet apart or be physically separated with barriers. Only members of the same group will be allowed to sit at the same table, and groups are limited to six people.
Outdoor dining has the same restrictions. Visitor logs are required at all hospitality businesses and any other businesses where people spend longer than 15 minutes.
A proclamation from the mayor’s office on Friday said the 14 day average of new cases dropped from 21 per 100,000 residents to 12.5 over the course of the reset. However, community transmission remains widespread and “threatens to overwhelm our health system,” according to the proclamation.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz says the reduced case numbers and increased capacity for testing and tracing contributed to the decision to relax restrictions.
“We saw declining numbers, we have flattened the curve, we have raised the bar. And so we have increased confidence that we’re in a better position today than we were a month ago.”
Limitations on gatherings have also increased. Indoor gatherings can now have up to 30 people. Outdoor gatherings with food or drink are limited to 50 people, while ones without food or drink are limited to 100 people.
Gathering limitations don’t apply to child care centers or farmers markets. Drive-in events are also not limited, so long as cars are spaced six feet apart — ten feet, if audience members are singing — and nothing is passed between cars.
Bingo halls and theaters are allowed to reopen. Along with gyms and other entertainment facilities, they must remain at 50 percent capacity. Places of worship and political expression are also limited to 50 percent capacity. Masks and social distancing are still required at all gatherings and in public.
Over the last month, hundreds of residents have protested the restrictions outside Anchorage Assembly chambers. Some restaurants refused to comply with the restrictions on indoor dining, resulting in a lawsuit and fines. Berkowitz says the public outcry had nothing to do with loosening restrictions.
“Of course we try and incorporate the positive constructive suggestions that people make into the decisions that we make. But the decisions we make are science driven,” he said. “Had we bent to those kinds of louder voices, we would never have done anything.”
Anchorage remains at the high alert level for measuring the pandemic, especially with recent outbreaks among vulnerable populations. Officials with the Anchorage Health Department hope to see cases drop further in the coming weeks.
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August 29, 2020 at 03:04AM
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After four-week "reset," Anchorage opens bars, restaurants to indoor dining - Alaska Public Media News
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