Juneau’s city museum, libraries and pools will remain closed for the time being.
The first phase of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s reopening plan went into effect April 24 and allowed some nonessential businesses to reopen with limited capacity while following health guidelines.
Phase II of the plan was announced Wednesday and goes into effect Friday. It allows gyms, bars, theaters and libraries to reopen with 25% capacity and pools to reopen at half capacity. Other retail businesses and restaurants already operating with restricted capacity can now increase it to 50%.
But according to a release from the City and Borough of Juneau, the Juneau Assembly needs more time to review state guidelines before deciding how to move forward with reopening public facilities.
On Monday, the Assembly will hear from state Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink at 1 p.m. The Assembly will then hold a meeting at 5:30 p.m., where it will discuss reopening public facilities.
Both meetings will be streamed live on Zoom and on the city’s Facebook page. KTOO will air the 5:30 p.m. meeting.
Local governments have some say in what restrictions are lifted. At an Assembly meeting last week, the Assembly discussed a resolution limiting group sizes to remain at 10 people or fewer after the state raised the limit to 20. It ultimately decided to follow the governor’s lead by a 7-2 vote.
In its release, the city encourages business owners planning to reopen Friday to proceed cautiously.
Juneau has seen 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March. Only five of those cases have been identified as resulting from community spread.
The last positive case of COVID-19 in Juneau was announced two weeks ago.