State Orders Bars Closed Amid Rampant Covid Spread Among Young People; Nearly 9,000 New Cases Seen

From the Florida Phoenix:

By Michael Moline

State business regulators cut off service in bars across Florida Friday amid reports of rampant coronavirus transmission among young adults and as the Florida Department of Health reported that the COVID-19 caseload had spiked by nearly 9,000 overnight.

The actual number of newly reported infections was 8,942 and deaths stood at 39. The totals for the pandemic were 122,960 infections and 3,366 deaths. The report followed two straight days with more than 5,000 cases reported.

Halsey Beshears, secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, announced the bar closure via his Twitter feed but provided no details.

“Effective immediately, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is suspending on premises consumption of alcohol at bars statewide,” Beshears wrote.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday “took more countermeasures to stem a tide of coronavirus infections, as he closed bars, ordered restaurants to return to 50% capacity, shut river-rafting outfits and gave local officials more control over large gatherings ahead of the Fourth of July holiday,” The Dallas Morning News reported.

Meanwhile in Florida, there was no word about restaurants, which Gov. Ron DeSantis has allowed to reopen under conditions similar to those that operated in bars. The state defines bars, pubs, and nightclubs as deriving more than 50 percent of their revenue from alcoholic beverages.

The communications team at the agency has yet to reply to a request for more information.

There was no word from the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who just one day earlier had signaled no retreat from his own orders reopening nonessential businesses including bars and restaurants at half capacity and subject to social distancing.

However, the governor had scheduled a news conference in Fort Myers for the afternoon and presumably would discuss the matter then.

The governor did say earlier this week that he had no immediate plans to enter Phase 3 of his reopening strategy, when local governments would resume public, in-person meetings and private businesses could open with limited social distancing protocols.

The bar service cut-off came three days after DeSantis described Beshears as follows: “He’ll be kind of the grim reaper of business licenses, because there’s not going to be any tolerance” for barkeepers ignoring the rules.

On Monday, the department issued an emergency suspension of the liquor license for The Knight’s Pub, a bar near the University of Central Florida’s campus in Orlando, after agents visited two nights running and found the establishment was allowing customers to congregate at the bar — in explicit defiance of the rule against that — and otherwise allowing close contact.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.