St. Louis County will end indoor dining Tuesday while city reduces private gathering limits

Editor's note: On Monday, Dec. 14, St. Louis County extended the order that banned indoor dining. Patio dining and takeout service are still allowed. The public health department will continue to monitor numbers of cases and hospitalizations in hopes of opening indoor dining safely.

Today, Friday, Nov. 13, St. Louis county executive Sam Page announced in a press conference that stricter coronavirus mitigation efforts would go into effect on Tuesday, Nov. 17, including shutting down indoor dining for the next four weeks, at which time the order will be reevaluated. “We do have evidence of transmission from bars and restaurants,” Page said in the conference.

Both patio dining and curbside service will still be allowed in the county, but business capacity must be reduced to 25% from 50%. Rather than another stay-at-home order like what was put in place in the spring, this is billed a safer-at-home order, which means everyone should stay at home unless they must leave their house to get groceries, for medical care, to see family or visit a place of worship, to exercise or to go to work, though working from home is encouraged if at all possible. 

“Many people tell me, ‘I’m done with this virus.’ The only thing i can tell them is, ‘This virus is not done with us,’” Page said in the conference. "We can’t possibly responsibly wait any longer to take the steps that are needed to get the spread of this virus in check in our community.”

Additionally, yesterday, Thursday, Nov. 12, city mayor Lyda Krewson announced on Facebook that all private gatherings of more than 10 people will be prohibited beginning at midnight Saturday, Nov. 14. “So, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner, and as difficult as this may be for families, this means no house parties, dinner parties, celebrations, and/or any other type of private social event or gathering,” the post stated.

Although the post also stated that “a full stay-at-home order and additional restrictions on businesses like restaurants/bars are not recommended at this time,” it also stated that “we continue to monitor the data constantly and are committed to adjusting our public health mitigation strategies accordingly to try and bring our numbers down, save lives, and better protect our health care and hospital systems.”

Page cited lower case numbers and better mask mandate adherence in the city as to why the entities are imposing different restrictions.