Tennessee restaurants & retail stores could reopen next week

NASHVILLE (WDEF) – Governor Bill Lee will announce full details on business reopenings on Friday, but he gave a preview today.

The headlines is that restaurants and retail stores will be allowed to reopen earlier than May 1st in most counties.

Tennessee restaurants will be allowed to reopen on Monday for inside service, but will be capped to 50% of their capacity.

Retail stores will be allowed to reopen with 50% of their capacity on Wednesday.

He also added that not every industry will be ready to reopen safely at the beginning of May.

This applies to 89 of the state’s counties, but not Hamilton.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke says the city may not reopen on the same schedule, though the rest of the county seems ready to.

Governor Lee declined to criticize Mayor Berke and said he is happy with the discussions they are having with all the mayors in the six largest counties.

On Friday, the Governor will release specific guidelines on what business owners will have to do to reopen.

When asked about the negative feedback Georgia is getting for the mass reopenings, Governor Lee stressed Tennessee will stick to a phased reopening, which means not all businesses will be allowed to open by the beginning of May.

Phase 2 reopenings will be determined by the COVID-19 data.