Nashville to lift all capacity restrictions on May 14

Nashville will lift all COVID-related capacity restrictions on businesses effective Friday, May 14, city officials announced Tuesday, with the countywide mask mandate set to continue indoors.

The reprieve of government intervention on business capacity and social gatherings comes nearly 13 months after Mayor John Cooper originally announced a citywide lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. Since then, the city has loosened and strengthened emergency-order restrictions independent from Gov. Bill Lee — who slashed all restrictions on businesses last May — and in stride with the virus’ spread throughout the community, most recently walking back capacity limitations for restaurants, bars and personal service businesses as more residents get vaccinated.