Many of the COVID-19 restrictions in Riley County were dropped as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday. There is a new local health order which rescinds all parts of an earlier order except masks and face coverings, which must still be worn in any public space in the county. However they're not required in outdoor public spaces if a distance of six feet cannot be maintained.The new order makes changes ranging from eliminating social distancing requirements inside businesses including bars or restaurants, no plexiglass and no table separation. Restaurants and bars will not be required to close at midnight, not be limited to just seated customers, and the mass gathering limit of 50 people along with the event request process are both being removed.Dennis Cook, Aggieville Business Association Executive Director, said for everybody the changes signal we're on the good side of&nbsp; the pandemic. "The numbers are way down, the trends are down, the people in the hospital are down" Cook added the numbers say we're ready to move on. "This effects everybody on how they can get out and move around. It does especially effect Aggieville. "Cook noted that restrictions that are being removed or loosened were predominantly aimed at the more late night businesses. "Instead of being able to stay open until two o'clock in the morning they were shutting it down two hours early. They closed dance floors. They had a bunch of restrictions that made it hard for businesses, bars that are in more of an entertainment district to function."Cook noted that there were no restrictions on the big businesses and the businesses in Aggieville would like to be restricted only to the extent of what was put in place for those larger businesses. There was no reason to categorize Aggieville differently.Cook hopes the changes will help some "very local businesses, keep them going." He feels there can be a return to normal operations.Social distancing will still be strongly encouraged and the public is also encouraged to follow health and safety guidelines from Kansas Department of Health &amp; Environment and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Loosening of COVID-19 restrictions becomes effective in Riley County