Bartender Katie McGranahan pours beers at the Saint Arnold Brewing Company Friday, June 26, 2020, in Houston. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that he is shutting bars back down and scaling back restaurant capacity to 50%, in response to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Texas.
That ended Friday, with Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that bars would again be shuttered, a day after the state reported a record high of nearly 6,000 confirmed cases and on the day that Texas surpassed 5,000 hospitalizations for the first time. In a nearly eight-minute video he posted online earlier this month, Neff vented his frustration, beginning with a message directed at Abbott: “You’re leading us to die.”
From the time bars and clubs in Texas could reopen on May 22 with indoor service, social media has been filled with photos and videos showing packed businesses that were obviously not following rules on capacity and social distancing. But the first operation by the state to suspend the alcohol permits of establishments that ignored rules didn’t happen until a week ago.
“What we realize is that despite exceeding the required protocols and with very little federal or state guidance, that more needs to be done,” Daniel Wright, the owner of five Cincinnati restaurants and bars that he shut down as a precaution, said in a Facebook post this week. That feeling of uncertainty is echoed elsewhere. Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, said his organization has told officials that the hospitality industry is “just looking for consistency, transparency and forward-looking rules.” The association has pressed local governments to increase efforts to educate customers on their responsibilities when going out, Kennedy said.
Give it two weeks, then it won’t be so hard
Open up everything
Do not open at all
Their decisions should not be that 'tough'; do the responsible thing and stay closed!
Shut the hell down! Virus spreaders...
Welcome to the last 6 months in a grocery store. And people still refuse to wear masks.
classic dilemma............to drink or not to drink. let the users vote n decide!
I'm freezing alone
How long do we stay shut down before we all go broke?
This will be the death of us. This administrations poor effort at curbing this virus have failed! And now when a second wave hits, as it already is, a shutdown will be the last thing to happen to ‘protect’ Trumps precious economy. Stop the virus to protect the economy DumpTrump
Bars restaurants have been open for little more then 3 weeks in EU yet not much if any outbreaks reported so issue is not the Bars them selves but the guidelines and enforcing them
Fake news trying to hurt our economy
Id be more worried about living in a neurotic germaphobe world where everyone is constantly obsessing over whether they're going to get slightly more serious flu.
Easy decisions they should stay open
Just open!!
no outlets to blow off steam and relax is going to make this state blow its top. my opinions only.
ShaunaBaker
It's a tough business to open at half capacity especially for smaller bars and restaurants. My bar has made the decision to remain closed for the summer since it wouldn't be financially viable to open at half mass.
DiefortheDow
Little discussed but they face HUGE liability issues both from staff and from customers! No limited immunity from lawsuit! Only option is to follow local public health standards and “pray.” Bet their insurance doesn’t cover their risk same as not covering business interuption!
We will never close America again! Reopen now!
If you just label it a protest then you’ll be safe from COVID
do more cases mean more sick? or just the result of more testing? Everyone is going to get this bug ... everyone! Too many asymptomatic cases to stop this bug. Too low of a death rate to justify this shutdown!
Texas begged for relief after opening.
Bars in my area are advertising “our employees don’t wear masks” like it’s the Friday night diner special or a reason to come to their establishment. Ohio will be the next hotspot.
COVID cases are up, but death is down. Why do you actively try to not report the news?
If confirmed coronavirus cases are surging in their area then there's no 'tough decision' to be made - THEY STAY SHUT.
stay open.
All this nonsense over a virus with a .04% fatality rate among those healthy individuals under age 70 is not only idiocy, it is sinister.
Stay open I say. This is fun to watch!
If you’d wear a mask and observe social distancing maybe this wouldn’t be a problem.
Not tough at all: Open up
Virus is over, move on
Vegeterians, Antifa Anarchist & JoeBiden Dems who hijacked BLM protests showed us there is no corona. RealDonaldTrump GOP
Stay open