Kentucky restaurants will be allowed to reopen with limited seating

Restaurants in Kentucky will be able to open for dine-in service at limited capacity starting May 22, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said Thursday. 

Restaurants will be able to reopen at 33 percent capacity inside, as well as for “unlimited outdoor seating” if restaurants can get the “spacing that is needed,” Beshear said at a briefing.

“We hope to gradually be able to raise that capacity but this is the best compromise between public health and making sure we can restart this part of the economy,” he added. 

The opening date allows restaurants to be open for Memorial Day weekend, but Beshear urged residents to “be careful” during that time.  

Beshear also laid out further reopening dates for other nonessential businesses. 

Movie theaters and fitness centers are scheduled to reopen June 1, and public and private campgrounds are set to reopen June 11. 

Child care and youth sports are scheduled to reopen June 15, with additional restrictions in place including “significantly reduced capacity” at childcare facilities, and only outdoor sports are allowed.

Beshear said the dates are just goals, and are subject to change if needed. 

“While this is the schedule I want to make happen, one thing and one thing only sets the schedule in the end, and that’s the coronavirus,” he said. “Any peaks that we see, any cause of major concern, we are all going to have to be willing to pause.”