Alabama restaurant dining rooms, hair salons can open May 11 with restrictions

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that more businesses will be allowed to open starting Monday, May 11, including restaurant dining rooms, hair and nail salons and gyms, with some restrictions.

Restaurants will be able to open dining rooms as long as they do not exceed 50% of their normal occupancy limits, keep at least 6 feet between tables and follow other guidelines agreed upon by the Alabama Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

Also, close-contact service providers, such as barbershops, hair salons, nail salons and massage businesses, will be allowed to open with restrictions developed by the State Board of Cosmetology.

Gyms, athletic facilities and athletic classes also can resume operations but must use intense cleaning methods and practice social distancing, the governor said.

The newly amended health order also will remove the cap on the number of people allowed at non-work-related gatherings. Previous orders have said 10 or more people could not assemble in one place. This easing of restrictions will allow gatherings such as worship services, funerals and weddings, but people from different households still must maintain at least 6 feet between one another, Ivey said.

Specifics on new guidelines for restaurants and close-contact providers are available on the Alabama Department of Public Health’s website, state Health Officer Scott Harris said.

The new order still prohibits entertainment venues from opening and prohibits concerts and youth sports gatherings, but the governor’s COVID-19 task force continues looking at those issue, and she expects to have additional changes to the state health order next week.

All of these changes are contingent on what happens with the spread of the disease across the state and are subject to change, Ivey said. The order that takes effect Monday, May 11, is effective through May 22.

The governor said she and Harris are comfortable with this “measured approach” to reopening the state because of the way Alabamians are heeding good public safety and health warnings.

However, “let me be crystal clear to the people of Alabama, the threat of this disease continues to be active, and it is deadly,” Ivey said.

At least 369 Alabamians have died from the COVID-19 disease and, nationally over the past seven weeks, more people have died than the number of soldiers who died in 20 years of fighting the Vietnam War, Ivey said.

Still, it's her responsibility to also look out for the economic health of the state, she said.

“Our record-breaking economy just two months ago had the lowest unemployment rate in Alabama in our history at 2.7%,” Ivey said. “Sadly, this seems like a distant memory.”

In February, there were more jobs than people to fill them, but now, more than 400,000 Alabamians have filed for unemployment, she said. In the past six weeks, more people have filed for unemployment in the state than in the previous two years combined, she said.

“These are innocent people who have lost their jobs, and many of them are folks who are accepting government help for the first time in their lives,” Ivey said. “People are frustrated. I understand. I care about you. We hear your voices …. Today’s order I hope will begin providing another round of hope for all of us.”

Ivey said while the new health order eases some restrictions, it is imperative for people to continue practice social distancing and good hygiene practices and, especially for older people and those with chronic health problems, to minimize travel outside the home.

“If I wasn’t governor, I sure as heck wouldn’t be with y’all today,” Ivey said at a press conference in Montgomery.

She encouraged people to continue to wear face coverings when with people from outside their household.

“The threat of COVID-19 continues to be real,” Ivey said. “It is truly deadly, and it must be addressed.”

More than 9,000 people in Alabama have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 369 of them have died from the disease, Harris said. More than 600 people have been hospitalized with the disease in Alabama, and another 348 people who are hospitalized are awaiting tests to determine if they have the disease, he said.

The number of positive tests has risen in the past week, but officials are still trying to determine how much of the increase in positive tests is related to an increased amount of testing, Harris said.

While the new order does ease restrictions on gatherings such as worship services, Harris stressed that people should remember that the biggest single outbreak of COVID-19 in Alabama came from a church event that led to a couple of hundred people being infected with the disease and about 50 deaths. That particular event occurred before the disease outbreak was evident in Alabama.

Harris encouraged houses of worship to follow recommended guidelines and to “think about protecting those people who are most vulnerable.”

Some churches have indicated they plan to hold separate services for senior citizens or plan to continue broadcasting their services online for those who cannot attend in person, he said. “We think that’s a terrific idea.”

Public health officials will continue to increase the amount of testing happening and tracing the contacts that infected people have had with others, Harris said. Because schools are not having on-campus instruction, school nurses are being drafted to help with this process, he said.

Also, the state hopes to do a better job of trying to determine the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, Harris said. Doing that has been difficult because it involves making numerous periodic contacts with each infected person, and the state has not had the manpower to make all those contacts, he said.

Based on worldwide data, about 80 percent of the people who get infected with COVID-19 do not experience serious health problems, and ultimately health officials expect that about 98 percent of infected people will recover, even if hospitalized, Harris said.

The governor also today issued a proclamation that authorized universities and other higher education institutions to design, manufacture and distribute personal protection equipment and COVID-19 testing materials to help alleviate a shortage of such equipment and materials, as long as they do so under the guidance of the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Also, businesses and health care providers that reasonably attempt to follow public health guidelines will have reasonable protection from lawsuits, her proclamation states.