‘Date night’ is back in Georgia with restaurants, movie theaters allowed to open

Georgia — Monday in Georgia was the first night dine-in restaurants and movie theaters could have people inside.

Action News Jax spoke with people like Katie and Kevin Smith, who were taking advantage and having their first date night out of the house in weeks.

At OPS Pizza Kitchen & Café in Kingsland, every customer had to stop at a hand sanitizing station, and tables were kept spaced apart.

Employees wore masks, as mandated by Governor Brian Kemp.

“It’s actually really great to come back out,” Kevin Smith said. “Her birthday is Wednesday, so she was so excited that we could come out here. The last couple of years, this is where we’ve shared our birthdays together.”

But just because restaurants and movie theaters could open Monday, doesn’t mean they all did.

Ownership of the OPS location in St. Mary’s posted on Facebook that they’ll remain take-out and delivery only for safety reasons.

Georgia Theatre Company owns Cinema 9 in St. Mary’s and two other theaters within about an hour of there. They remain temporarily closed.

In a statement, Bo Chambliss, the president of Georgia Theatre Company, said:

“Although the Governor allowed us to re-open our theatres in Georgia yesterday, we will not be opening for several weeks. We want to make sure we are providing a safe and comfortable environment for our employees and our customers. We are putting systems in place and ordering supplies that we will need to achieve the level of safety our employees and customers will expect. The first major new release, Tenant, directed by Christopher Nolan, is scheduled to be released on July 17. We will open a few weeks before then with repertory films to build some momentum for movie-going ahead of Tenant. We believe there is a lot of pint-up demand for movie-going and expect people will want to get out of their houses to see a movie as soon as they can. Business will be back to usual before we know it.”

In a news conference Monday, Kemp outlined the businesses that will stay shut down.

“Bars, nightclubs, operators of amusement park rides and live performance venues will remain closed, and the shelter in place order remains in effect through April 30,” Kemp said.

Back at OPS, Smith said people are following the rules and social distancing.

“I’m just so glad, and I think people are, as well, to get back to a somewhat normal society,” Smith said.

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