Sacramento County orders bars to close after another record day of new coronavirus cases
Less than three weeks after giving bars the green light to reopen, Sacramento County health officials on Monday ordered them to close again, saying patrons are not social-distancing enough, especially after a few drinks, and are contributing to a dramatic surge in new cases.
The county bar closure order is set for 6 p.m. Monday.
Sacramento health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson announced the closures a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered seven counties to close down bars and recommended that eight other counties, including Sacramento, consider doing so as well.
It comes as the county experiences an unsettling surge in new cases. Officials reported 228 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, by far the most in a day since the epidemic hit at the beginning of March, topping several daily highs established last week.
County disease tracing teams believe that the recent surge in cases is due mainly to large family gatherings inside homes and backyards, but secondarily, cases have begun popping up at bars. County officials say they do not have a count, but anecdotally they say what they see and hear about bars is troubling.
“I’m disappointed with what I saw, frankly, at bars, especially when you look at how other businesses are operating,” Beilenson said.
Part of the problem is that it is difficult to do social distancing in bars, given their often confined layouts. But, he said, in some cases, owners, bartenders and patrons are not taking coronavirus safety rules seriously.
The owner of a bar in Greenhaven put most of the blame on patrons, saying staffers had been spreading seats apart and encouraging people to drink on outdoor patios, but many customers were showing up without masks and in groups outside their households.
All 15 counties where bars are being ordered or recommended to close are on the state’s coronavirus “watch list” as counties that are struggling to maintain control of the resurgent virus. They represent 72 percent of the state’s population, Newsom said.
Sacramento was placed on the watch list last week due to a recent surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. There are now 87 COVID patients in county hospitals, an increase from a low of seven in mid-May.
In a statement Sunday, Newsom warned that the virus is making a resurgence. “That’s why it is critical we take this step to limit the spread of the virus in the counties that are seeing the biggest increases,” he said.
The new order applies to bars, breweries and brewpubs, except those that offer sit-down, dine-in meals and where alcohol is only sold to people who are ordering and eating a meal there. That could include a bar or pub contracting with a food truck to provide sit-down dining.
Newsom said his Sunday order could be backed up by visits from state regulators who have the authority to rescind liquor licenses, and could be followed by more restrictive orders. In Sacramento County, health chief Beilenson said his staff will watch in the next week whether bars obey his order or not. He said he expects most of them to comply. But if some bars refuse to close, he said he would be willing to ask state regulators to come in.
Although the governor gave counties the go-ahead to reopen bars on June 12, both state and local health officials have been leery about the high potential of virus spread in the distinctive social environment that bars create, and that there is “a growing body of evidence tracing large COVID-19 outbreaks in both urban and rural areas to bars.”
“A bar, foundationally, is a social setting where typically not only small groups convene, but also where groups mix with other groups,” state officials wrote Sunday as a justification for re-instituting bar closures in the selected counties. “Physical movement within the establishment, duration of time spent in the establishment, and the degree of social mixing within individuals and groups are all greater in bars than in other hospitality sectors.
“Further, alcohol consumption slows brain activity, reduces inhibition, and impairs judgment, factors which contribute to reduced compliance with recommended core personal protective measures, such as the mandatory use of face coverings and maintaining six feet of distance from people outside of one’s own household.
“Louder environments and the cacophony of conversation that are typical in bar settings, also require raised voices and greater projection of oral emitted viral droplets.
“The sector’s workforce faces higher exposure to disease transmission because of the environment in which they work, compounded by the necessity for patrons to remove face coverings to consume drinks, especially while seated at a bar or moving around and mixing.”
Bar reopenings have been a bit rocky for some bars. Last week week, midtown bar and grill Zebra Club shut down for cleaning and staff tests after a customer tested positive for coronavirus. Old Tavern Bar and Grill said it too would close because much of its customer base also patronizes Zebra Club. A sign posted to the door cited “a neighborhood spike in the COVID-19 virus” as reason for the temporary closure.
Some bar owners say the finger should not solely pointed at them.
Lewis Everk, who owns Vyxn, a restaurant and lounge in Fresno, said he didn’t think the spike in coronavirus cases can be attributed solely to bars.
“Bars are the scapegoat on this one,” he said. “I agree that more are testing positive and it’s our responsibility to do what we can as business owners to mitigate the chances but the truth (is) people make their own decisions on what they are comfortable with.”
He said businesses can provide all the hand sanitizer and masks they can get their hands on, but it’s up to the customers to take them.
“If customers don’t want to, we can’t force them.”
A bar owner in Carmichael on Sunday suggested in a Facebook post that the county health department’s concerns about COVID-19 are a political scam.
Cedar Room owner Brett Cranston told his customers in a Sunday afternoon Facebook post that the bar probably would be ordered closed. He blamed it on “whiney a-- liberals” trying to influence the November 2020 election.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 1:38 PM.