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North Carolina caps restaurants selling alcohol at 11 p.m.

POLK COUNTY—Beginning on Friday, restaurants in North Carolina will have to stop selling alcohol at 11 p.m.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced the statewide curfew this week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cooper said the curfew is an effort to keep restaurants from becoming bars after hours. He said most restaurants stop selling food by 11 p.m. and after food sales stop, restaurants become more like bars.

Cooper said he hopes the curfew will drive down cases, particularly in young people. Studies have shown that people have a harder time practicing socially distancing after drinking later at night.

Bars have not been allowed to re-open in North Carolina.

South Carolina has the same curfew, which was enacted by Governor Henry McMaster on July 10.