Tippecanoe Co Health Department allowing bar top dining until 9 p.m.

Dining patrons are required to stay sitting and maintain social distance between parties while being served at the bar.

This new amendment will begin Thursday, September 10th.

Is making a change to the current mandate on restaurants, bars and nightclubs in the county.

News 18's anna darling was at the department's bi- weekly press conference this afternoon.

She joins us now with more details on the change, anna?

Tippecanoe county food and beverage establishments can now offer bar top service until 9 p-m.

However, dining patrons are required to stay sitting and socially distanced is maintained between parties.

This new order will begin tomorrow.

This is the only change being made to the mandate.

County health officer dr. jeremy adler says they did consider modifying the midnight curfew.

However, he says the county is not quite at that level yet.

He says they will continue to monitor data and that extending the curfew is still on the table as a future step.

Dr. adler says this decision was made based on feedback from local businesses and elected leaders.

He hopes this first step towards easing the restaurant mandate will keep the health of the community and the sustainability of businesses in balance.

"after careful consideration and consultaiton with the board of health, the order will be amended to include this relatively low risk modification that we hope will help establishments increase their dining capacity" it's been a little less than a month since this mandate went into effect on august 14th.

Dr. adler said from the beginning that the restaurant mandate is a proactive measure as purdue students returned to the community.

He also says restaurants create an environment where the virus can spread more easily.

And while the mandate is working to keep our numbers down, it isn't helping local establishments.

As we've previously reported, the neon cactus in west lafayette is one of the most notable business casualties caused by coronavirus.

Hear what lafayette mayor tony roswarski thinks about the change tonight on news 18 at 6.

Live from west lafayette, anna darling news 18.

A local county has seen a spike in covid-19 cases.

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