(LANSING) – Michigan restaurants will be allowed to have more people eat inside and residential care facilities can allow more visitors for their residents.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services updated two of their epidemic orders Tuesday afternoon. The changes allow for increased capacity limits at various venues, larger residential and nonresidential gatherings and expanded visitation opportunities at residential care facilities.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer made the announcement during her weekly media update. ...... {LISTEN}.

The Residential Care Facilities Order goes into effect immediately. The order encourages communal dining and group activities for residents and allows indoor and outdoor visitation in all counties regardless of county risk level. Visitation is allowed as long as the facility has not had a new COVID-19 case in the last 14 days and all indoor visitors ages 13 and older are subject to rapid antigen testing.

Whitmer also announced changes to retail and entertainment venues. ...... {LISTEN}.

Changes to the Gatherings and Mask Order go into effect this Friday, March 5 and will remain in effect through Monday, April 19. Capacity changes include: Restaurants and bars are allowed to be at 50% capacity up to 100 people. Tables must be six feet apart with no more than six people per table. There is now an 11 PM curfew. Indoor non-residential gatherings where people interact across households are permitted up to 25 people, allowing public meetings and other small indoor gatherings to resume. Outdoor non-residential gatherings where people interact across households are permitted up to 300, allowing larger outdoor events to resume.

Indoor entertainment venues are allowed to be at 50% capacity, up to 300 people. Exercise facilities are allowed to be at 30% capacity with restrictions on distancing and mask requirements. Retail is allowed to be at 50% capacity. Casinos are allowed to be at 30% capacity. Indoor stadiums and arenas are allowed have 375 if seating capacity is under 10,000; 750 if seating capacity is over 10,000. Outdoor entertainment and recreational facilities may host up to 1,000 patrons.

The epidemic order continues to temporarily pause other venues and activities where participants have close physical contacts and are not consistently masked, like water parks. As before, employees who work in jobs that cannot be performed from home can continue to go to work, while employees who can work from home should continue to do so.