Last Friday bars in Texas started to open again after a long pause due to coronavirus pandemic. This is how they are working.
Adaptation is the only way to survive. Despite 52.000 new coronavirus cases reported, after two months of closed doors, bar owners, craft breweries and tasting rooms are welcoming their clients with a capacity of one quarter from their habitual clientele.
“I try to make the best I can“, says Chris Morris from Eight Row Flint, a bar from upper Houston. “I try to stay away as much as I can but sometimes you gotta enjoy“, said Morris.
At Eight Row Flint the main bar is closed and there is a limited number of tables and seats. The team of the distributed small hand sanitizer bottles on every table, and only disposable cutlery as well.
“We want to ensure as much as possible that people that want to go out can make it as safe as possible.” Says Morgan Weber, co-owner of Eight Row Flint.
However, people tend to gather on the front of the bar. “We have space“, says Morris, who notes that the bar has less people than usual.
Other bars like the Cottonmouth Club cocktail bar in Houston, only welcomes guests with a reservation. Guests are separated by stools and are asked to disinfect their hands at the entrance.
Despite the gradual reopening of the economy, cases of contamination continue to increase in Texas. According to the authorities, at least 52,268 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and 1,440 have died as a result.
Don’t drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly.