As of Friday, some restaurants, retail centers, and personal service businesses will be able to be open up in Alaska, the Dunleavy Administration announced today.
Details on the easing of the regulations will be announced later this week, but generally speaking, restaurants and retail centers must be at no more than 25 percent capacity and people need to be spaced 10 feet apart. For restaurants, they can seat people together when they are in the same household.
Retail establishments will need to limit their customers to one person per household at a time. There will likely be universal face coverings ordered for public-facing employees and the shopping public will also be asked to continue to wear face coverings as much as possible when in public places.
Bars will not be opening on Friday, but salons, day spas, tattoo shops and other personal service shops will open, with certain social distancing and mask rules to be observed.
Fishing charters will begin to operate on Friday. If there are parties from separate families, the charters need to operate at 25 percent capacity.
Churches, weddings, and funerals will be able to provide services, with crowd limits now extended from 10 people to 20 people, and with six feet of social distance between people.
Anchorage, however, will not implement these mandates until Monday, according to Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum. The State and the Municipality have coordinated and come to an agreement about the delayed reopening for Anchorage.
Commissioner Crum addressed revisions to various health mandates:
Health Mandate 10: The 14-day quarantine for incoming travelers to Alaska will be extended to May 19, and this will be evaluated on a weekly basis for cases coming into state.
Health Mandate 11: Social distancing of six feet between people who are not part of the same household is extended until further notice.
Health Mandate 12: Intrastate travel is extended until further notice. This means no casual travel between communities in Alaska. For those traveling for fishing or hunting, they are not do engage in commerce in communities outside their hometowns.
