City of Huntington issues new COVID-19 measures, police can issue fines

In the new executive order, capacity at bars and restaurants are limited to 50%, with bar seating currently limited to 25%.

Live music and karaoke are not allowed during the time the county is in the orange status.

Police can choose to punish non-mask wearers with the new executive order as well.

Symptoms. new tonight -- the city of huntington is the latest community to enact tighter covid-19 measures to help slow the spread of the virus in the community...including possible fines for those who aren't wearing masks.fox 55's caleb saylor was at the huntington mayor's press conference today and is live in huntington tonight with details of the new measures.

Currently, huntington county is in orange status with covid-19, with an upward trending positivity rate.

This is why huntington mayor richard strick has signed a new executive order to help slow the spread of covid-19 within city limits.

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No live music in bars, fewer people allowed in restaurants.

These are some of the restrictions now in place in the city of huntington.

For john stoeckly, the owner of the country post restaurant, he says his revenue has dropped 30% and while he chose to reduce capacity to 50% earlier in the month, he's struggling "our staff depends quite heavily on our customers coming in and we're trying to juggle everything to make sure those people are taken care of as well as our customers."

The new executive order also says if someone isn't wearing a mask, police can write them a warning, with a twenty five dollar fine for the second offense.

That amount goes up fifty dollars for each offense thereafter.

Hutnington mayor richard strick explains it isn't a strict enforcement "just as with any other civil infraction, our law enforcement members have complete discretion in conversations with community members on when to apply a civil infraction to an incident or not.

There is a clear progression, as needed.

We hope it won't come to that."

Stoeckley thinks the new mask orders will help, but doesn't love the idea of refusing service to non-mask wearers, as suggested by the mayor's new measures ".you hate to turn people away, but that's what they want us to do and that's what we have to do."

These new restrictions are also guided by what's happening in the hospital.

Parkview huntington president juli johnson says critical staff are running short due to covid-19 exposures.

"that's why we're just so strongly asking our community to make sure that you're masking up and following the guidelines because we need to be able to keep our people healthy so that we can care for all of the others in this community."

And while some may not agree with the new measures, strick says for now, the law is on his side.

"executive orders, whether from a mayor, governor, or president, have the full enforcement power of the law until expired or revoked by the executive or a court deems it unlawful."

?live out: also in the new measures, the city has started the making space initiative, which makes grants available to local bars and restaurants to help expand their outdoor seating with things like awnings and heaters so people can still dine out while the business prioritizes carry-out service.

You can view a quickgude of the new measures in this story on our website, w-f-f-t dot com.

In huntington, caleb saylor.

Fox 55