State bans serving alcohol at bars
Locations effectively shut down as daily coronavirus cases surpass record
Florida banned serving alcohol at bars Friday, effectively shutting them down on the same day that the state reported a record-shattering number of new coronavirus cases.
The move comes just three weeks after bars were allowed to reopen and amid mounting cases of the highly contagious disease in the state.
“Effective immediately, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is suspending on premises consumption of alcohol at bars statewide,” according to a tweet from Halsey Beshears, secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
The order, signed by Beshears but not Gov. Ron DeSantis, said bars can still sell alcohol to-go and restaurants can continue to serve drinks as long as they don’t get more than half of their revenue from alcohol. It defines a bar as a place that earns more than 50% of its money from alcohol.
The order said so many bars and vendors throughout the state were not following reopening guidelines that it made enforcement efforts “impractical and insufficient.”
The Department of Health reported 8,942 positive daily cases at nearly the same time that Beshears sent out the tweet. The previous record for a single day of 5,508 was set Wednesday. The state has now recorded 122,960 positive cases and a death toll of 3,366.
Matty Bullitt, who manages three downtown Orlando bars, including Bullitt Bar on Pine Street, said he was frustrated with what he described as a “broad brush” approach to determining which types of establishments are fit to open.
“You’re taking huge venues and dance clubs and putting them in the same situation as a 2,000-square-foot bar and pub,” he said.
Shutting down again after be
ing open for only three weeks will be a blow to the roughly 40 employees who work at the three bars, which have exhausted their Paycheck Protection Program loans, he said.
Bullitt Bar and the other venues, McQueens Social Lounge and Crow & Company, tried to be diligent in following social distancing measures, he said, including checking patrons’ temperatures at the door and asking them to order at the bar and then step away.
“Just to single out bars and crush that business, it’s tough to swallow,” he said.
The order will affect Oviedo Brewing Co. as it doesn’t make enough money off food to continue serving its craft brews on site, said owner Vishal Chunilal, whose business has been reopened for about three to four weeks.
He said he would still sell food at the brewery and beer and food for people to take home.
“This is hurting every small business across America, and the question is, how do you survive?” Chunilal said. “When is this going to be over?”
Not having people drink at the brewery impacts a “huge chunk” of his business.
“People drink more,” Chunilal said. “They eat.
They grab food. They’re hanging out for a few hours.”
DeSantis mentioned the order at a news conference Friday at Lee Health – Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, calling it “a major action by DBPR.‘’
“The reason why DBPR [did] it is because you had people that weren’t following it, there was widespread non-compliance, and that led to issues,‘’ he said. “So folks, just follow the guidelines. … When you part from that, then it becomes problematic.”
On Tuesday, DeSantis vowed to crack down on bars and restaurants not following social-distancing rules.
“If you go in and it’s just like mayhem, like ‘Dance Party USA’ and it’s packed to the rafters, that’s just cut and dry and that’s not just an innocent mistake,” DeSantis said at a news conference at Orlando Health. “No tolerance for that. Just suspend the license, and then we’ll move on.”
The state suspended the alcohol license at the Knight’s Pub near the University of Central Florida on Monday night after regulators said 41 customers and employees tested positive for the virus.
The governor opened bars on June 3, with an executive order that allowed them to operate at 50% capacity inside and to serve only seated customers.