Beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 24th, some places in North Carolina will be able to open at 100% capacity, including museums, aquariums, retail businesses, and salons.
During a COVID update on Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper also announced that restaurants, breweries, wineries, amusement parks, gyms, and other recreation establishments will be able to have up to 75% capacity indoors and 100% outdoors.
Additionally, as part of Executive Order 204, bars, conference centers, sports and entertainment arenas, and reception venues will be allowed to increase capacity up to 50% indoors and outdoors.
Also on Friday, the state will fully lift the 11 p.m. curfew for on-site alcohol consumption.
The mass gathering limit that covers other gatherings will be increased to 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors.
According to Cooper, over recent months, North Carolina has experienced an improvement in key COVID-19 metrics, including sustained declines in the number of COVID-19 daily diagnoses, the percent of total COVID-19 tests that are positive, the number of emergency department visits that are due to COVID-like illnesses, and the number of COVID-19 associated hospitalizations.
“In addition, North Carolina is rapidly expanding its capacity to vaccinate individuals. Due to public health measures taken within the state, enhanced knowledge of the COVID-19 virus by public health experts, and the persistence of North Carolinians in adhering to executive orders and public health guidance, the state is in a position to further relax restrictions, while still continuing with the “dimmer switch” approach in reopening the state.”