Yesterday afternoon, the Shelby County Health Department announced a new health directive will go into effect this weekend, April 17th at midnight. This will further lift restrictions on businesses, particularly restaurants, and encourages all eligible residents to receive the vaccine. 

Currently, all Shelby County residents 16+ are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine and everyone 18+ is eligible for any vaccine offered.  

The key changes are that buffets will be reopened but with extra sanitary measures, dancing indoors is now permitted, if kept 6 feet apart from other families or groups and events no longer need to be submitted to the County unless they exceed more than 500 people in attendance. 

At this time, health directives requiring face masks in public areas are still in place. 

While the COVID-19 virus remains a threat, these revisions are deemed allowable now as transmission is low.

“We are pleased to be able to make these modifications to the Health Directive. We will carefully monitor viral activity over the next 30 days to determine if more preventive measures can be lifted,” said Interim Health Director La Sonya Hall. “If community transmission remains low, we will welcome the opportunity to lift even more restrictions and return to more normal activities.”

In another 30 days, if the COVID-19 transmission rate remains low, the health department will consider shifting from a mandatory to recommended approach, per their website. 

To learn more about this new health directive or to learn more about vaccines, visit the Shelby County Health Department’s website here.