Madison County reopening advances, will lift capacity restrictions Monday

JACKSON, Tenn. — Another change is coming for restaurants and businesses in the Hub City.

You might be seeing even more people out eating and shopping starting Monday.

“Begins Monday at 12:01 am, and that is we are lifting the 50% capacity restrictions on restaurants and retail facilities,” said Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department Director Kim Tedford.

But the restaurants still have to follow Governor Lee’s orders of keeping tables six feet apart, no live music, and screening employees before they come into the building.

Jackson Mayor Scott Conger and Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris had a meeting with restaurants and businesses earlier this week before making this decision.

“What I heard is they’re doing pretty well,” Mayor Harris said. “And some of them are still doing just take out.”

All of this comes as Mayor Conger says we’re entering phase three of reopening in Jackson and Madison County.

“As we’ve gone along, we’ve said all along our phases are very fluid. I guess you could say we’re probably in phase three. It looks a little different than what we initially proposed,” Mayor Conger said.

But city leaders say the continued success is up to each community member play their part and stay apart, social distancing when you can and wearing a mask when you can’t stay six feet away from others.

“The reason I choose to wear a mask is out of respect for my fellow man, and out of compassion for people I come in contact with,” Tedford said.

And the hospital wants to remind you of their visitor policy change. Each patient is now allowed one visitor, but patients can not have any visitors other than their designated person.

“If you do come to the hospital as a visitor, please bring your mask with you. We have a limited number of masks, and we do have those available if you forget,” said Amy Garner, chief compliance and communications officer for West Tennessee Healthcare.

Mayor Conger says they’ll also make a decision about the upcoming tournaments at the sportsplex in the next couple of weeks.

If you want to help the city and county make decisions going forward, click here to fill out United Way’s survey created to help the COVID-19 task force.