The Health Department closed 9 restaurants in Shelby County over the weekend due to COVID restriction violation, and two of them were Downtown. The Tin Roof on Beale Street and Brinson’s at 341 Madison were on the list. Dr. Haushalter, head of the Health Department, said that inspectors tend to give warnings if violations are found for an initial inspection, preferring to educate rather than enforce. However, she said, if the violations are egregious and include behaviors like crowding and not enforcing masking, exceptions are made and businesses are immediately shut down. It looks like they are cracking down on smoking indoors too, banned in the most recent health directive.
I have not been in Tin Roof this year, but I’m not surprised they got shut down. They were constantly advertising parties on Facebook like there was no pandemic at all. They weren’t making much of an effort to keep things on the down-low.
Restaurants and bars that are closed must remain closed for 14 days (an incubation period of the virus) and must submit a plan for reopening to the Health Department.
Restaurant owners voiced their concerns about the restrictions yesterday. Tami Montgomery said that her business Dru’s Place has lost about $140,000 this year. She said that forcing her to close at 10 PM rather than midnight has reduced her revenue 30 to 40 percent.
The first pilot to break the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager, has died at age 97.
I’ll watch the COVID-19 task force press conference today, and if there are any major developments I will post an update in the 1:00-2:00 hour. Otherwise I will be back tomorrow with more news.