Local bar owners object to latest virus restrictions

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

For restaurants and bars in Allegheny County, Tuesday was last call for alcohol as the county’s second round of COVID-19 restrictions took effect at 5 p.m. 

Now that the ban is in place, bars and restaurants in the county can continue to serve food on-site, but are only allowed to offer alcohol for takeout.

The ban comes just weeks after Pennsylvania went into the green phase of reopening on June 5, allowing bars and restaurants to reopen with seating and capacity restrictions.

Some Mon Valley establishment owners are faced with the grim reality of once again seeing profits slashed.

“I’m not happy about it, but we have to comply,” said Rich’s Parkside Den bar manager Dave Letchford. “We’ll do a last call at 4:45. We opened for takeout the first time, and if we made it through that, we’ll make it through this one. 

“It cuts into about half of our profits. I’m not surprised it’s happening again, but I didn’t think it was going to be this fast.”

Elbow Room co-owner Juanita Findrick isn’t sure if her family-owned establishment, which has been in McKeesport for more than 60 years, will survive the second alcohol ban.

“It was unfair to those of us following the protocol,” she said, adding that she enforced social distancing, face masks and regular cleaning at her restaurant. “They should have a task force like the ones they have against drugs. 

“Now I’m back to where I was before. We barely made enough to keep the lights on. We lived in the dark to make sure we survived. For them to do this to us, it makes it rough on us. Will we survive? I don’t know.”

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