Governor Lee Announces Reopening Plan, Local Officials Provide Additional Recommendations

Posted 04-24-20.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has announced his plan for the reopening of portions of the Tennessee economy beginning as early as Monday, April 27 for restaurants and Wednesday, April 30 for retail businesses. The complete plan, including guidelines for retail and restaurant businesses, is available at https://www.tn.gov/governor/covid-19/economic-recovery.html.

“The Governor has provided a way forward for our restaurants and retail businesses to open with certain restrictions,” said Sevierville Mayor Robbie Fox. “We strongly urge our businesses and residents to follow Governor Lee’s guidelines. Social distancing, sanitizing work and public spaces, proper personal hygiene, and wearing cloth masks when appropriate remain just as important today as they were yesterday.”

 

From the Sevier County mayor and the mayors and city managers of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Pittman Center and Sevierville

In addition to the Tennessee Pledge – Reopening Tennessee Responsibly guidelines released by the state, the cities and county have recommendations. We are doing so because our major industry is tourism and we feel these additional steps will help protect our residents and visitors. The cities and the county are not actively marketing to visitors at this time to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. These additional recommendations are as follows:

Restaurants
Close by 11 p.m.
Bars remain closed
No more than 50% seating capacity
No more than 6 guests per table
Encourage contactless payment
Recommend frequent cleaning and sanitizing of restrooms within the business as set forth by the CDC and Health Dept. guidelines

Retail
Recommend credit card machines be disinfected between each use
When possible, email receipts to customers instead of printing
Recommend frequent cleaning and sanitizing of restrooms within the business as set forth by the CDC and Health Dept. guidelines