Texas bars can reopen to 50% capacity, but decision up to county judges, Gov. Abbott says

Awesome news, but I live in Houston(Harris Country), so we probably will not have bars open until sometime next year. Luckily Abbott made the food loophole, so a couple bars in my city are open. Still think its a lack of leadership to leave it up to county judges, so we will have counties closed next to counties that are open.

 

15 years ago I was a frequent visitor to Texas, quite a few different cities and towns, and the liquor regulations around the state were some of the silliest I've ever seen compared to most other states.

All the best to the Great State!

 

Here in Bexar cases are dropping daily, along with deaths. A lot of bars have suddenly become restaurants!

 

The place I like to go for Friday happy hour actually opened August 27th. I didn't realize they were open until mid-September. I asked the bartender how they were allowed to open. She said, "Oh. We're a restaurant now." lol

 

"Texas bars can reopen to 50% capacity, but decision up to county judges"

what, you mean Texas has been doing the same thing as the rest of the country, I thought that was only blue States

"AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- After months of being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bars will finally be able to reopen - but at a certain capacity, and with the approval of each county's judge"

 

I don't think hysteria is partisan.

 

many on the right do

 

Perhaps because every time a Republican wants to open the economy, the Democrat leaders make unwarranted fear rebuttals of nervousness and concern.



https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavir...ial-lifting-of-restrictions-on-bars-in-texas/

 

is that because they have not met the Trump guidelines for reopening?

 

Yeah. LOL, say you. Very funny. It won't be as funny for the people who get contaminated in there, especially for the small percentage of them who will die, and for the much larger percentage of them who will get lifetime organ damage, or those who pass it on to more vulnerable relatives who then suffer the above-mentioned fates. Bars are the most dangerous environment of them all as they are indoors, often lack proper ventilation, are crowded, people are unmasked because they are drinking, and people get close to each other and shout loudly to be heard over the ambient noise. But great, you find it funny when people find ways to go around sensible regulations.

 

I have no idea, actually, whether we met guidelines or not. Governors can follow guidelines or not. That has nothing to do with whether the response is partisan or not anyway. Anything Trump, or a Republican governor, want to do is "bad" to Democrat leaders. If Republicans were pushing to total close down in some bizarre world, then Democrats would be wanting to open everything (as we initially witnessed first-hand when Trump restricted travel from China).

 

well I think that's important, as they are the Presidential Guidelines for this National Emergency Trump declared

 

What is the difference between a bar and a restaurant? Restaurants are indoors, often lack proper ventilation, are crowded, people are unmasked because they are drinking eating, and people get close to each other. Whether or not people "shout loudly to be heard" depends on the bar or restaurant.

A bar is no more dangerous than a restaurant as long as the employees ensure that customers comply with regulations and capacity limits. Does it matter if you have a plate of food with your drink, or if you are just having a drink?

Approximately 2000 out of 8000 Texas bars reopened as "restaurants" (while technically bars were "shut down") because the state's liquor control board eased the classification.

After we had the one summer wave in the state, cases and deaths have continued to decline. There seems to be a pattern, shut down or no shut down, where the viral wave sweeps through, peaks, and then declines. Anything that looks like a second wave of cases does not appear to have the high level of associated mortality.

 

~ Somehow I cannot imagine Texas without bars and saloons ...

 

Well, I'm "pretty sure" that Abbott is following federal guidelines, but I don't care enough to research it. Have at it if you feel it's that important.

 

~ Meanwhile in Sweden they are waiting for a second wave of virus - but as yet nothing has happened. They too had most deaths in nursing homes. It is now "wait and see" .

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...-s-lax-pandemic-policies-face-fierce-backlash

 

I see that both Dallas and Houston opted "out" of reopening. That will probably make more bars take advantage of the "restaurant" loophole. Meanwhile, it will be a boon for bars operating just outside of the county lines. Seems like having people drive further away from home to go to a bar will increase DUI's, which won't be great for public health or safety, but decisions have consequences.

 

Three Cheers for Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota. She has not done a single authoritarian thing about Covid. No business closings, no mask requirements. She treated it like seasonal flu. She did it right.

 

No, bars are MORE dangerous than restaurants; people mingle in close proximity, flirt, pile up at the counter, while restaurants can space out tables, each table is often a household unit not interacting with the other patrons, and capacity is much easier to control in a restaurant than a bar.

"Does not appear to have the high level of associated mortality" - one, this is not over yet. We'll see. Waves come and go. We've seen things calm down and then pick up again, several times. Two, like I said mortality is not all. There is morbidity too, that is, the people who survive but come out of it with organ damage.

 

In my work and travels down South, the odd assortment of dry counties and areas was amazing, especially the weird legal excuses on how to avoid regulations.

But I wonder, why aren't the "Patriots" doing drivebys to protest the loss of "essential Rights to drink" "taking away America"?

Heavily armed men circling the State Houses staring down over their politicians?

It would would seem to be more important to curtail highly contagious diseases for a little while until there is a vaccine, compared to these permanent bans over getting drunk at a bar.

Hard to figger these priorities down there...

 

if you're going to blame Dems, then I am saying you also need to blame Trump as is his guidelines Republican and Democrat governors are following

 

~ Trump said alcohol kills the virus instantly. Maybe booze is the treatment ?

 

But they don't. I own a brewery with a tasting room (that has become a beer garden for OUTSIDE use) and policing people is a major issue. Even here in NY most establishments are very lax. I can imagine how bad it is in Texas

Obviously you don't care at all