Bar owners react to shutdown order

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

For many bar and tavern owners in the Mon Valley, it was only a “matter of time” before more restrictions came down from the state. 

With cases of COVID-19 on a seemingly continuous upswing, a new round of orders was issued Monday by Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. Bartenders across the state must do last call at 5 p.m. Wednesday to cut COVID-19 transmission during what is traditionally one of the heaviest public drinking nights of the year — Thanksgiving eve. 

Wolf also imposed new crowd size limits of 500 people indoors and 2,500 outdoors and vowed there will be heightened enforcement of mask wearing requirements and other infection control tools. 

In the past week, the number of COVID-19 attributable deaths has quadrupled and the average daily case count is seven times higher than it was two months ago.

Levine said last week that modeling available from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projects Pennsylvania could see more than 22,000 cases per day in December. If that’s correct, hospitals may begin to run out of intensive care beds. 

The model also predicts that more than 32,000 deaths could be reported from COVID-19 by Feb. 23 — a number that officials say could be cut by half if citizens comply with mitigation efforts and wear masks.

Since the pandemic began to shutter business eight months ago, the hospitality industry has been hit especially hard.

Restaurants were forced to close in March when a stay-at-home order was put in place. 

When counties began to reopen in June, bars and restaurants had to follow strict policies and procedures, including capacity restrictions that have hindered day-to-day operations. 

In the past several weeks, certain restrictions have lightened — with capacity currently at 50% — but other rules stand that require customers to purchase food with each alcohol transaction and force bartenders to clear drinks from the bar by no later than midnight.

Wolf said Monday that infections and deaths from COVID-19 have risen sharply in recent days, adding that his administration is concerned the virus could spread during holiday gatherings and challenge the health care system’s capacity to adequately treat the ill.

Wolf said busy bars can lead to “an increase in the exchange of the fluids that lead to increased infection.” 

“We’ve got to recognize that as tough as that is, it’s even tougher when people die,” Wolf said.

The one-day alcohol ban will begin 5 at p.m. Wednesday and end at 8 a.m. Thursday. Local business owners say it will cost them thousands of dollars. 

Rich Algeri, owner of Rich’s Parkside Den in the Boston section of Elizabeth Township, said he knew restrictions were coming.

“I wasn’t surprised at all; we have been waiting for more restrictions to come down,” Algeri said. “It’s a dictatorship.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.