Texas bar owners reel as governor orders them closed again, COVID-19 cases spike

[rooster59]

Texas bar owners reel as governor orders them closed again, COVID-19 cases spike

By Brad Brooks

 

Tish Keller, owner of the Triple J restaurant, looks out the establishment's front door, in Lubbock, Texas, U.S., June 26, 2020. Keller says a new state order reversing Texas' economic opening will hobble her business. REUTERS/Brad Brooks

 

LUBBOCK, Texas (Reuters) - Texas and Florida, at the center of a new U.S. surge in coronavirus infections, on Friday took steps back from efforts to ease restrictions on businesses, ordering bars to close again and tightening rules on restaurants.

 

Governor Greg Abbott ordered bars across Texas to close by mid-day and required restaurants to limit indoor seating capacity to 50%, while Florida state officials told bars to immediately stop serving alcohol on their premises.

 

The announcement stunned Texas bar owners who said Abbott, a Republican in his second term as governor, had given them only four hours notice that they had to close at noon. Mark Martinez, owner of a Lubbock beer garden, learned when friends texted him the news at around 8 a.m.

 

"I spent thousands of dollars in inventory getting ready for this weekend. I could have really used that (money) for my rent, which is due next week," said Martinez, 44.

 

"We were just getting to where we could pay the bills," said Tish Keller, owner of the Triple J Chophouse and Brew Co. in downtown Lubbock. "Taking us back down to 50% capacity means we won't have enough business to pay staff, let alone the bills."

 

Keller said she had no idea how long she could stay open under the new rules and dreaded trying to save her business from ruin twice in one year.

 

Florida issued its new rules after recording a startling 8,942 new cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus, eclipsing the state's one-day record of 5,511 reached on June 24.

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that Imperial County, east of Los Angeles, has become so overwhelmed by the virus that the state was recommending it issue a strict new stay-at-home order.

 

Newsom also said that in response to rising COVID-19 hospitalizations he has paused allowing counties to further reopen their economies.

 

MASKS IN ALASKA

 

Anchorage, Alaska Mayor Ethan Berkowitz issued an emergency order requiring residents to wear masks in public, indoor spaces after Alaska identified 836 cases as of Friday, with 387 of them in his city.

 

Texas had been at the forefront of states peeling away restrictions designed to control the pandemic. It allowed bars to reopen in May, when revelers flouting social distancing rules celebrated Memorial Day weekend.

 

It has since witnessed some of the biggest increases in new cases in the United States, reporting 5,996 on Thursday. The state has also seen record numbers of hospitalizations in the last two weeks.

 

Almost 125,000 Americans have died of COVID-19, the highest known death toll from the highly infections disease in the world.

 

Despite the grim news from Texas, Florida and elsewhere, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United states was coming back from the coronavirus crisis, which has halted large parts of the economy and left millions jobless.

 

"We have a little work to do, and we'll get it done. We're having some very good numbers coming out in terms of the comeback, the comeback of our nation, and I think it's going very rapidly and it's going to be very good," he said at an event in the White House.

 

Vice President Mike Pence said that in Texas and Florida "we're seeing more and more young people, under the age of 35, who are testing positive. In many cases they have no symptoms."

 

Also reporting record rises in cases this week were Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming.

 

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, Nathan Layne, Peter Szekely in New York; Jane Ross in Los Angeles, and Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; Writing by Alistair Bell and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-27

 

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[Tug]

Feel sorry for them but it is what it is the virus doesent care if you are making money or not we must corporate to get it into remission 

[tribalfusion001]

Rinse and repeat, lockdown and open up, lockdown and open up again. Something has got to give eventually, people's patience probably.

 

Businesses going bust, people getting angry, the storm is coming!

[FritsSikkink]

9 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Rinse and repeat, lockdown and open up, lockdown and open up again. Something has got to give eventually, people's patience probably.

 

Businesses going bust, people getting angry, the storm is coming!

Time for them to wear a mask then and don't be ignorant.

[metisdead]

A troll post using a trolling image has been removed.

[PatOngo]

14 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Time for them to wear a mask then and don't be ignorant.

Git er dun!

[ezzra]

With 40,000 new infected people in one day, i would too do the same, the question is that, how much losses and economic setback a country will be able to tolerate, sacrifice and contain before they they decide to go the full lockup measures to stem the tide of infections? that's all to it really...

[PatOngo]

Yesterday alone there were 40,870 new cases in USA, amazing to think such a self proclaimed advanced country could get it so wrong! They are looking more 3rd world than the 3rd world!

[Henryford]

If they keep switching these lockdowns on and off it will totally destroy what's left of any economy.

[Yinn]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Anchorage, Alaska Mayor Ethan Berkowitz issued an emergency order requiring residents to wear masks in public, indoor spaces after Alaska identified 836 cases as of Friday, with 387 of them in his city.

 

Corona in USA since Febuary.

5 months later decide to wear mask? 

 

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Despite the grim news from Texas, Florida and elsewhere, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United states was coming back from the coronavirus crisis,

 

No, the coronavirus is coming back because stupid.

 

Annoying me. 

The virus is problem for the world. If ALL countrys help together it will go more quickly. 

 

But some countrys protest about statues and want “open” before control it, not wear mask, not social distance, fight left and right, NOT control it =Thai people suffer.

 

selfish people in selfish countrys. 

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

“ I spent thousands of dollars in inventory getting ready for this weekend. I could have really used that (money) for my rent, which is due next week," said Martinez, 44.

Millions people lose money. Close the business. Martinez want to open for make money. Not care social distancing, not care spread and die, only care her money.

 

They lie and say it improving. But is not true.

[jadee]

Winston Churchill once said "You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing...after they first exhaust all other possibilities!" - he was speaking, of course, to encourage the US to enter WW2, but there's an element of truth to this - it's like most Americans (not Trump or Pence) are finally like "Gee, maybe wearing masks is a good idea after all!"

[redwood1]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Feel sorry for them but it is what it is the virus doesent care if you are making money or not we must corporate to get it into remission 

[redwood1]

45 minutes ago, Henryford said:

If they keep switching these lockdowns on and off it will totally destroy what's left of any economy.

 

Thats the whole point.......Order out of Chaos..

[steelepulse]

Do cases matter, or does actual hospital icu's being overwhelmed and deaths start skyrocketing matter? 

 

Who cares how many cases there are if the strain is now a lot less harmful then before? Everything I've been reading from reputable sources say this is now a lot less virulent then it was back in Feb-Mar.  Just keep the elderly and unhealthy tucked away.  Eventually this will go the way of SARS and MERS and die out.

 

Media loves to keep stoking the fear fire as it works and gets them that extra bit of ad revenue from extra clicks and extra views.

[stevenl]

6 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

Do cases matter, or does actual hospital icu's being overwhelmed and deaths start skyrocketing matter? 

 

Who cares how many cases there are if the strain is now a lot less harmful then before? Everything I've been reading from reputable sources say this is now a lot less virulent then it was back in Feb-Mar.  Just keep the elderly and unhealthy tucked away.  Eventually this will go the way of SARS and MERS and die out.

 

Media loves to keep stoking the fear fire as it works and gets them that extra bid of ad revenue from extra clicks and extra views.

You've been very selective in your reading.

 

Sars virus died because it was too effective.

 

And again the old 'blame the media for reporting' line 

[Mama Noodle]

1 minute ago, stevenl said:

Sars virus died because it was too effective.

 

No, thats not why. 

 

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

And again the old 'blame the media for reporting' line 

 

Nobody is "blaming the media for reporting' they are blaming the media for spinning and framing stories. 

[stevenl]

7 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

No, thats not why. 

 

 

Nobody is "blaming the media for reporting' they are blaming the media for spinning and framing stories. 

Yes, it is.

Yes, happening all the time.

[johnpetersen]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

With 40,000 new infected people in one day, i would too do the same, the question is that, how much losses and economic setback a country will be able to tolerate, sacrifice and contain before they they decide to go the full lockup measures to stem the tide of infections? that's all to it really...

There are other questions -  not just that one. Why did Governor Abbott ignore the advice experts in the first place? Why did he actually forbid localities from requiring the use of face masks? Because of his willful ignorance, starting up the economy has been put off that much further into the future.

And of course there's the even more important question: why are these judgement being left up to the states? Viruses don't respect borders

[samran]

If only someone could have foreseen this...

[Eric Loh]

Good luck America, you need it when your leaders rather talk about statues than taking the pandemic seriously. Find other news source than Fox will help immensely. Pay more attention to science than quacks in the WH. Again good luck as the situation is deteriorating rapidly. 

[Tug]

2 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Yesterday alone there were 40,870 new cases in USA, amazing to think such a self proclaimed advanced country could get it so wrong! They are looking more 3rd world than the 3rd world!

Our problem is trump and his sheer ignorance and willful malfeasance in the handeling of the pandemic heck today he filed a case trying to abolish the affordable care act if successful it will throw 20 million out of what crappy care we have and of course there’s nothing to replace it yup I’d call that willfull and done with fore thought and imo malice 

[mtls2005]

These deep red governors are between a rock and a hard-place. They seem to be leaning back towards science and public health. But this will upset potus, who seems obsessed (today) with monuments to traitors. Maybe he can get putin to put a bounty on these protesters?

 

 

 

 

[sevenhills]

7 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Yesterday alone there were 40,870 new cases in USA, amazing to think such a self proclaimed advanced country could get it so wrong! They are looking more 3rd world than the 3rd world!

That's if you believe the communist left's narrative, this as here has been nothing but BS, nothing more than the Flu at best. Strange how the Flu dissapeared this yoer Hey!

[sevenhills]

5 hours ago, johnpetersen said:

There are other questions -  not just that one. Why did Governor Abbott ignore the advice experts in the first place? Why did he actually forbid localities from requiring the use of face masks? Because of his willful ignorance, starting up the economy has been put off that much further into the future.

And of course there's the even more important question: why are these judgement being left up to the states? Viruses don't respect borders

Well what happened to the seasonal Flu this year which kills more? And they have a Vaccine for that.

[spiekerjozef]

drink more bleach

[johnpetersen]

10 minutes ago, sevenhills said:

Well what happened to the seasonal Flu this year which kills more? And they have a Vaccine for that.

There was a flu season and it peaked earlier than covid.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

 

[johnpetersen]

It's obvious that bars should be the last kind of businesses that are allowed to open. Liquor and responsible behavior don't mix too well. On top of that, bars are noisy. The louder you have to speak the more saliva droplets you generate and the further those droplets go.

[dunroaming]

7 hours ago, jadee said:

Winston Churchill once said "You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing...after they first exhaust all other possibilities!" - he was speaking, of course, to encourage the US to enter WW2, but there's an element of truth to this - it's like most Americans (not Trump or Pence) are finally like "Gee, maybe wearing masks is a good idea after all!"

You have a President in denial and only interested in how this pandemic will affect his chances of being re-elected.  So no leadership from him as usual, just him trying to play it down all the time.  Which means you are left with the Trump believers and his ludicrous claims and the normal American people who will follow the rules in an attempt to beat this killer pandemic.

 

People need hard wired instructions and to be told the truth about the virus.  Something you will never get from Trump and his chums.

[from the home of CC]

7 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Yesterday alone there were 40,870 new cases in USA, amazing to think such a self proclaimed advanced country could get it so wrong! They are looking more 3rd world than the 3rd world!

there's another country that will do the same in about a week,  and I anticipate the same health effects - it's almost like a race to see who can kill the most - fools..

[spidermike007]

40,000 new cases in one day. And 46,000 according to worldometer. Those are mind boggling numbers. Americans generally have little in the way of self discipline. And there is a multitude of things that can be done to strengthen the immune system and prevent the contagion, and few of the talking heads are getting anywhere near that topic. Nobody is talking about prevention, through diet, and avoiding processed foods, sugar, fast food or other things that weaken the body.

 

Why are Americans getting infected at such high rates and why does the nation have a fatality rate of over 5%? Americans are by and large very unhealthy people. Many gorge on fast food, fried food and incredibly toxic diets. Combine that with pre existing diabetes, heart disease, morbid obesity, horrendous leadership, and the lack of self discipline (I do not want to wear a mask, and nobody can make me do it!) and many other factors, and you have a perfect storm that we are now witnessing. 

 

This second economic shutdown is going to be devastating for the US economy, and could very well trigger a great depression.