Mayor Murray Weems has issued a citywide curfew beginning Thursday and continuing through April 16 and banned on public gatherings until further notice to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The curfew will begin at 10 p.m. Thursday and continue each night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Weems said only those who are reporting to work or traveling due to an emergency will be allowed on the roads overnight. He said he doesn’t want anyone trying to shop at retail businesses that happen to be open late at night.
“If anyone is traveling during that time, they will need their ID badges to show that they are reporting for work,” Weems said. “Those are the only people who will need to be traveling during those hours, such as doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, EMTs or those who have to report for work. This curfew is to prevent people from just going out to the convenience store or other retail businesses in the middle of the night for any reason other than an emergency or for work.”
The ban on public gatherings will affect all churches and other public places where more than 10 people would likely gather for worship. Weems said the ban would also extend to those churches who may try to hold worship in their parking lots regardless of whether congregants would be in vehicles.
Graveside services will be the only public gatherings allowed. Funerals may not hold services inside their chapels, but they can hold a graveside service as long as they safe social distancing is practiced.
“They can have more than 10 at a graveside service, but they must be spread out and not congregate in one specific locale,” Weems said.
Weems’ order does not affect industries such as Biewer or ESCO. Both La-Z-Boy and ESCO have shut down due to the coronavirus. ESCO plans to reopen April 6 after the foundry has a deep cleaning since an employee has a confirmed case of COVID-19.
La-Z-Boy shut down its operations nationwide through at least April 13, when the decision will be re-evaluated. Until then, 6,800 employees are furloughed.
The decision was made Wednesday after Weems met with department heads and four aldermen.
“It really hit me when they said yesterday that the coronavirus could kill over 100,000 people,” Weems said. “I knew right then we had to do something to slow it down.”
