Non-essential businesses to be closed across the state

Nonessential businesses to be closed across the state

Staff Reports

Just one day after announcing that public schools across the state would stay closed, Gov. Kay Ivey ordered that “non-essential businesses” in the state close.

The closures will take effect at 5 p.m. on March 28 and will be shut down through April 17. These closures include entertainment venues, barber shops, nail salons, fitness centers and gyms, casinos, spas and many other businesses.

All other businesses not listed below may remain open. Restaurants may continue to serve take-out and delivery orders. Hospital food service areas can continue to serve food like normal.

At a press conference Ivey reiterated that she was not ordering a “shelter-in-place” on the state but urged Alabama residents to limit contact with others as much as possible as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow in the state.

Ivey has already ordered the closure of beaches, senior citizen centers and schools. Also, all dental, medical or surgical procedures should be postponed unless “necessary to treat an emergency medical condition.” That is defined as “a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain, psychiatric disturbances and/or symptoms of substance abuse) such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected by a person’s licensed medical provider to result in placing the health of the person in serious jeopardy or causing serious impairment to bodily functions or serious dysfunction of bodily organ.”

Child daycare facilities are also ordered to be closed, “including any child daycare facility at which 12 or more children are in a room or other enclosed or separated space at the same time.”

Ivey's order also limits "non-work gatherings" to just 10 people across the state and those found in violation of that order could face a fine of $500.

These orders will remain in effect until 5 p.m. on April 17 and a determination will be made before that on whether the order should be extended.

“Folks, this is incredibly disappointing news to deliver, but this is a matter of life and death,” Ivey said. “If you can stay at home, you are safer at home. I can’t stress to you enough that we must take this deadly virus seriously. I assure you I’m doing everything in my power and using every available resource to protect Alabama.”

As of March 27, 538 people in the state have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and three have passed away as a result of the disease.

The full list of “non-essential” businesses ordered to close include:

-Entertainment venues (this includes night clubs, bowling alleys, arcades, concert venues, theaters, auditoriums, performing arts centers, tourist attractions including museums, race tracks, indoor children’s play areas, adult entertainment venues, casinos, bingo halls and venues operated by social clubs)

-Athletic facilities and actives (this includes fitness centers, commercial gyms, spas, public or commercial swimming pools, yoga facilities, spectator sports, sports that involve interaction with another person of closer than six feet, activities that require used or shared sports equipment and activities on commercial or public playground equipment)

-Close-contact service providers (this includes barber shops, hair salons, waxing salons, threading salons, nail salons, body-art and tattoo facilities, tanning salons and massage parlors)

-Retail stores (this includes furniture and home furnishing stores, clothing stores, jewelry and luggage stores, department stores, sporting good stores, book stores, craft stores and music stores)