GREENSBORO, N.C. — Editor's Note: the video above is from a different story.
The news of a modified stay-at-home order doesn't come as a surprise to some downtown Greensboro businesses, as they watch the COVID-19 case count in North Carolina continue to spike.
Those trends prompted Governor Roy Cooper to take more steps to try and stop the spread.
Starting Friday, a modified stay-at-home order will take effect between 10 p.m and 5 a.m. Businesses will have to close by 10 p.m. and stop selling alcohol at 9 p.m.
Bars, like The Bearded Goat in Downtown Greensboro, were only given the OK to reopen at the beginning of October, and now owner Seth Mapes is contemplating closing.
"The first initial reaction was well this could quite possibly be the last weekend that The Goat stays open until further notice," he said, "With the cold months coming up and no indoor capacity it really limits us to what we can or can’t do."
Bars are only allowed to reopen their outdoor seating since October, which Mapes said has been a struggle depending on the weather.
"If it rains you just go ahead and close," he said.
Southend Brewing Co. Owner Seth Kavorkian said they'll have to close earlier than normal which could impact sales.
"Midweek we are open until 9 or 10 so this isn’t going to affect us too much then but Friday’s and Saturday’s are for sure our busiest days so we’ll be loosing essentially two hours of sales potential at this time," said Kavorkian.
While Kavorkian said it wasn't a surprise that more moves were made to try and stop the spread, there's always a looming fear that North Carolina will backpedal even further, forcing some to close again.
"Depending on what happens with case numbers going forward I’m sure they’ll make that determination that was a worst-case for our business for sure," he said.
Mapes said The Bearded Goat hasn't decided if it will close until further notice just yet.
"I’m going to see how this, think about it for a couple of days," Mapes said, "We’re going to operate Thursday through Sunday this week, weather permitting, and then kind of make the decision, look at the forecast for the next couple weeks and see what it’s looking like."
Mapes said he just hopes everyone, including other business owners, starts abiding by the rules in place to help keep people safe, to bring the numbers down.
"There’s people that are taking it seriously, like I said, but there are people that aren’t and there’s businesses that aren’t," said Mapes, "People need to start getting fined if they’re not doing what they need to be doing because it’s people and businesses like that that are putting us little people in jeopardy and potentially in shutdown mode."