Louisville Metro Police officers will be writing down the license plate numbers of those who attend church services over Easter weekend, Mayor Greg Fischer said Friday.

Fischer has asked Louisvillians to forgo in-person gatherings, including drive-in services, to lessen the spread of the coronavirus. He said the license information would be given to the city's health department.

"If we allowed this in Louisville, we'd have hundreds of thousands of people driving around the city Sunday, and boy, the virus would just love that," Fischer said.

More:Oldham County health director urges churches not to hold Easter services at drive-in

Dr. Sarah Moyer, the city's public health director, said knowing who was at gatherings, such as in-person church services, can help the department notify those who might have been exposed if an attendee later falls ill.

"If we have a case, we have a list of names of who needs to quarantine and isolate," she said. "And it'll just make our investigation go quicker, as well."

Asked if citizens should fear being cited or charged if they attend a religious service, the mayor said officers will be handing out information to attendees.

"What we want to do is inform people if they're out," Fischer said. "If they're out, they clearly don't understand the danger of congregating and being out."

Gov. Andy Beshear announced a similar new policy on Friday evening, saying that state police will also note the license plate numbers of those who attend any in-person mass gathering, church services included.

The license information will be given to local health department staff who will come to attendees’ homes with an order for them to quarantine for 14 days.

"Understand that this is the only way that we can ensure that your decision doesn’t kill somebody else," Beshear said.

The governor specifically said that the new order won't apply to drive-in style religious gatherings in which people stay in their cars, though he noted some local jurisdictions have implemented tighter restrictions.

However, Beshear stressed that cars need to stay six feet apart and items can't be passed in and out of vehicles.

Q&A:Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer talks Easter services, nursing homes, PPE

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at mglowicki@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4989 or on Twitter @mattglo. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg.