Restaurateurs and diners can expect substantially loosened restrictions when Health Directive 19 goes in effect next week.

In a Zoom meeting Shelby County officials held with members of the Memphis Restaurant Association on March 11, upcoming changes were discussed with the understanding that they are the “expected” changes and still not firm.

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County Mayor Lee Harris said we can expect contact tracing and record keeping by restaurants — such as seating charts — to be significantly relaxed or eliminated. The present midnight curfew is expected to extend to 1 a.m., the two-hour dining limit may be eliminated, and the limit of six diners at tables may be increased to eight.

Whether those diners will still be required to be of the same household is still up in the air, but it appears to be generally acknowledged that no one is expected to check diners’ addresses to enforce compliance.

A relaxed mask policy also is expected. The policy wording may change to allow diners to remove their masks when seated at their tables. It now requires them to wear masks even when seated if not actively eating or drinking. And restaurants will be relieved from facing fines if they don’t monitor mask compliance.

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Six feet of distance will still be required between parties until federal recommendations are loosened. While language might change, a food purchase will still be required with the purchase of alcohol.

MRA president Mike Miller said he’d like to see Shelby County come in line with the Tennessee Pledge, designed to help businesses reopen safely, which encourages but does not require mask use. Miller did not state his position or that of the MRA on mask use. Harris said he’d like to see the county get closer to state requirements, though he said national recommendations matter the most.

“All of us want to be in alignment with the CDC,” or the federal Centers for Disease Control, he said. “Nationally, what the CDC and so forth says is going to be a really big thing going forward.”

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Some restaurateurs don’t want to see masking become optional yet.

“Until our employees are provided access to vaccinations, I think it would be particularly irresponsible to forgo masking,” said Deni Reilly, co-owner of Cocozza American Italian and The Majestic Grille. “I think it would be a slap in the face.”

Harris said that restaurateurs should lobby the state to classify restaurant workers as essential workers so they could start to get vaccines, noting that we may soon have more vaccine supply and appointments than demand anyway.

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“I think all of us are ready to move forward, but I just want to be sure we’re boxing out Mario Chalmers and any 3-point shots,” said Kelly English, owner of Restaurant Iris, The Second Line and Fino’s.

“That’s a heartbreaking analogy, sir,” said Shelby County strategic affairs coordinator Andre Gibson. English was referring to the Kansas player who scored a 3-point shot with two seconds remaining in the 2008 NCAA Championship game, which ended in an overtime defeat for the University of Memphis.

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“That’s said from a place where I want to get back open at the first logical second that we can,” English said. “We just want to do it right. We’ve invested and sacrificed too much over this last year.”

The new directive should be released March 17 and go in effect March 20.