RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Rapid City bars and restaurants are among the businesses that could reopen under a plan that would require social distancing precautions to guard against spreading the coronavirus.
The City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on Mayor Steve Allender’s proposal, the Rapid City Journal reported. It would require bars and restaurants to maintain a minimum of six feet between tables, chairs and bar stools. Establishments would be allowed to have a maximum of 10 people, or for larger buildings, one customer for every 125 square feet of space.
Food service employees would also be required to wear masks.
Tony Demaro, owner of Murphy’s Pub & Grill and Kol, said he’s been working with his staff to practice social distancing at the pub and is excited about the possibility of reopening next week.
“I want to get rid of the fear that keeps people paralyzed at home. I want people to get outside and have drinks with friends safely,” he said.
Takeout and delivery at his two businesses haven’t generated enough revenue to sustain being closed much longer, Demaro said.
Justin Henrichsen, owner of Independent Ale House, said it would be difficult to make money under the mayor’s proposed capacity restrictions.
“I don’t know if we’ll reopen,” he said. “We’re taking it a week at a time.”
State health officials reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, although none of them were in western South Dakota. Ten of the 11 cases in Pennington County, where Rapid City is located, were marked as recovered. The other case was a death reported in March.
About 1,800 of the state’s nearly 2,150 coronavirus cases have been reported in Minnehaha County, which is South Dakota’s most populous county and the location of a large outbreak at a pork processing plant. More than 1,000 COVID-19 cases have been tied to the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls.
No new deaths were reported Saturday, leaving the South Dakota total at 10. There were no new reports of hospitalizations, keeping that figure at 61.
The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick.
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