North Carolina restaurants will not be allowed to serve alcohol after 11 PM starting this Friday, July 31.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced the curfew on alcoholic beverage sales at restaurants during a media briefing Tuesday.  Cooper says he hopes the measure will help slow the spread of COVID-19, particularly amongst younger adults in the state.

Currently, North Carolina’s percentage of positive coronavirus tests is slightly declining.  However, the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are slightly increasing in the state.

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, there are currently 1,244 people hospitalized with the coronavirus in the state, a new daily high.  As of Tuesday, there have been 116,087 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina.  1,820 of those cases have resulted in death.