Manatee County commissioners lift 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew

During their regular meeting Tuesday, Manatee County commissioners voted 4-3 to lift the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that has been in place since April 3.

The commissioners had voted Friday to wait a few more days on whether they should lift the curfew in order to gather more data on whether the curfew was having an impact.

On Tuesday, some local residents continued to tell the commissioners that a curfew infringes on their freedoms and wasn't justified. Healthcare workers continued to ask the commissioners to keep the curfew in place.

The commissioners had instituted the curfew in attempt to keep people off the roads at night and lessen the impact on first responders

Commissioners Priscilla Trace, Vanessa Baugh, Stephen Jonsson and Betsy Benac voted to rescind the curfew. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore voted to continue it.

The commissioners also authorized the county to spend up to $100,000 to purchase personal protective equipment and 1,200 COVID-19 testing kits.

The meeting can be viewed on the county's YouTube channel and it will re-air periodically on Manatee Government Access (MGA) Spectrum channel 644, Verizon channel 30 and Comcast channel 20.