One night, one bar, 11 sick

Friends went out in Jacksonville Beach then tested positive

A 40-year-old health care worker and 10 of her friends have tested positive for COVID-19 and the one thing they have in common is that they all spent an evening out at a Jacksonville Beach bar, where several bar staffers have also tested positive, according to media reports and her Facebook posts.

Erika Crisp says she’s been sick for over a week, having been diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 10, according to Action News Jax.

Crisp and her friends had gone out to Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach on June 6. Bars across the state, with the exception of hard-hit South Florida, had been allowed to open on June 5.

Crisp told News 4 Jax that she and her friends had “done everything the right way” with staying indoors and social distancing during the first few months of the pandemic.

“And then the first night we go out, Murphy’s Law, I guess,” Crisp said. “The only thing we have in common is that one

night at that one bar.”

Lynch’s closed and seven employees tested positive for COVID-19, according to First Coast ABC News.

After a deep cleaning, the bar was set to reopen Tuesday.

Several other Jacksonville area bars have also been closed in recent days over coronavirus concerns, with one employee of The Tavern testing positive for COVID-19 and others awaiting tests, Action News Jax reported Tuesday.

Jacksonville is also set to host the 2020 Republican

National Convention in late August, where President Donald Trump will accept the party’s re-nomination for president.

In Central Florida, Kiwi’s Pub and Grill in Altamonte Springs closed after one employee tested positive for COVID-19.

In South Florida, bars have not yet been allowed to reopen, given the higher coronavirus case totals in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. But on Tuesday a group of bar owners and employees rallied at Fort Lauderdale’s iconic Elbo Room bar, calling on officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, to allow them to reopen.