Platte County follows others in loosening COVID-19 rules for bars and restaurants
Platte County will allow bars, restaurants and other food establishments to remain open until midnight, health officials announced on Friday.
The new order is similar to those in place in Kansas City as well as Clay and Jackson counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. Previously, the county’s bars and restaurants had been required to close by 10 p.m. to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
In Friday’s announcement, Platte County health officials noted that the rate of COVID-19 cases in the county in the last 14 days has remained high. The decision to amend their previous order would permit bars and restaurants in the county to remain competitive with those in other parts of the Kansas City area.
“The Board also discussed the importance of eliminating the temptation for Platte County residents to drive to and from other jurisdictions after consuming alcohol,” according to a written statement.
Like most jurisdictions, the county still caps capacity at 50% and limits indoor gatherings to no more than 10.
Since November, Johnson County was the outlier in allowing bars and restaurants to stay open until midnight, with no extra limits on capacity and indoor gatherings limited to 50 people. Now Kansas City and Clay and Platte counties also have the midnight curfew. Jackson and Wyandotte counties require bars and restaurants to stop serving at midnight but closing time is 12:30 a.m.
On Friday, the Kansas City metro area added more than 650 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 5:00 PM.
