The Shelby County Health Department in Tennessee ordered bars to close again, citing an uptick in Covid-19 cases. The county includes Memphis, one of the state's largest cities.
The order goes into effect Wednesday night at midnight.
"Our numbers have trended upward since Memorial Day, and that has continued," said Alisa Haushalter, Shelby County's Health Department director, at a news conference Tuesday announcing the new directive.
Restaurants for now can remain open until 10 p.m., but she said the department is looking to reduce capacity there, as well as at gyms.
Shelby County saw more than 12,000 new Covid 19 cases on Monday, 146 more than the day before, according to Haushalter.
"As of this morning, we have our highest number of people hospitalized with Covid," she said, warning the county is "moving toward a surge."
A team including members from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Federal Emergency Management Agency spent three days in the area last week, one of 10 regions selected by federal officials for intervention toward slowing Covid-19 growth. Haushalter said the team sent a report to her Tuesday morning, and the new restrictions are based in part on the recommendations from that report.