North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has instituted a curfew of sorts for all North Carolinians between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to stop the spread of COVID-19.  The curfew goes into effect on Friday, Dec. 11 at 5 p.m.

If you’re having trouble understanding this latest edict number 181 from Cooper you’re not alone.

Social media lit up with comments like this: “I didn’t realize the virus magically starts infecting people at 10 p.m., but then stops as soon as we get to 5 a.m. What a relief! I’m all for common sense measures, including closing businesses where the virus is likely to spread, but this is government overreach.” From Ryan Rackliffe.

According to the executive order, restaurants have to close at 10 p.m. and restaurants and bars have to stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. For bars it may not make much difference since they can only serve people outside, and being outside in the summer when bars had to be closed is one thing, but drinking outside when it’s 25 degrees is another.

But even internally the executive order is hard to understand. Restaurants have to be closed at 10 p.m. and people are supposed to be home at 10 p.m. Since most people are not actually going to read the executive order they may not realize that traveling home from a restaurant after 10 p.m. is permitted. But then again who wants to be stopped by law enforcement on the way home from a restaurant after having a couple of glasses of wine and have to explain that driving home from a restaurant is a permitted activity.

Also, collegiate and professional sporting events get a pass on the whole curfew. People attending one of those events can stay out as late as the sporting event lasts, but amateur sporting events other than collegiate events don’t get a pass.

Grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, take-out and delivery food establishments are also exempt. So if you decide at midnight to go top off your tank, or pickup some takeout that is permissible.

Also worth noting, “the media” has a complete and total exemption from the curfew order.