In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Governor Roy Cooper announced a modified “stay-at-home” order, asking residents to stay at home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Businesses must close at 10 p.m., including restaurants and bars. Alcohol sales must end at 9 p.m. North Carolina has been repeatedly reaching new highs in positive Covid-19 cases, and the percent of positive tests is also increasing. 

“I know that news of effective and safe vaccines has given us all hope, but vaccines aren’t here yet,” Governor Cooper said at the conference. “We have to act now to save lives, safeguard our hospital capacity and preserve our economy.”

The restrictions are being put in place to ensure hospitals are able to manage the staggering numbers of patients due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

People become more uninhibited, and people get closer together and there can be more opportunities to spread the virus,” Cooper said of the stay-at-home order’s hours. “What we’re trying to do is to chip away at those times to slow the spread of the virus.”

These actions come not long after the state increased its masking requirements.

“We’ll do more if our trends don’t improve,” Cooper said. “That could mean additional actions involving indoor restaurant dining, entertainment facilities or retail capacity. None of us want that.”

Restaurants and bar owners weren’t surprised at the announcement.

“We continue to be appreciative of the state’s measures to try and flatten the curve,” executive chef Chris Coleman of The Goodyear House says. “We recognize that the sooner that happens, the sooner we can all return to some sense of normalcy.”

Coleman added he didn’t think The Goodyear House would see much change because of the order, as service is slowing down by then at the restaurant. Full-service dining rooms with a beverage focus, however, are concerned. Bars have had limited capacity since the initial shutdown in March, with only outdoor service currently allowed.

Stefan Huebner, owner of Dot Dot Dot, says he was expecting to be shut down again, but is unsure of how the cocktail bar and restaurant will manage operating from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. — he may institute 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. seating times to ensure they can maintain two turns at each table.

“I don’t understand how taking an hour away from me at Dot Dot Dot is going to help slow the coronavirus,” Huebner says. “Maybe some enforcement two months ago and shutting down places that had 200 people in them might have worked better.”

Images on social media continue to show restaurants and bars ignoring regulation, while others, like The Goodyear House and Dot Dot Dot work to adjust to the new regulations. Trying to condense his cocktail bar’s service into four or five hours, however, will be difficult for Huebner.

“I don’t know what the pivot is,” he says.

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