Florida shut down bars as another record number of new COVID-19 cases was announced in the state.
The move to suspend on-premise consumption of alcohol was announced on Friday by Halsey Beshears, the secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the agency that regulates Florida bars.
“Effective immediately, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is suspending on premises consumption of alcohol at bars statewide,” he said in a tweet.
Florida has seen a surge in cases since it began to reopen, breaking the single-day record for new cases on Wednesday with 5,511 cases and then shattering that record on Friday with nearly 9,000 new infections. Florida now has had a total of 122,960 confirmed cases and 3,366 deaths.
The move to close down drinking in bars came soon after Texas, which is also experiencing surging levels of coronavirus infections, decided to do the same. Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas will restrict outdoor patronage at restaurants and that they will only be able to do takeout for a while.
“As we experience an increase in both positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, we are focused on strategies that slow the spread of this virus while also allowing Texans to continue earning a paycheck to support their families,” Abbott said in a Thursday statement. “The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses. This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business.”
There are fears that the new wave of infections in Texas will overwhelm hospitals. It was announced this week that Houston’s Texas Medical Center is now operating at 97% capacity, and the city’s Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital is over capacity in its intensive care unit.
Across the United States, there have been more than 2.4 million confirmed cases and almost 125,000 deaths, leading other states, including New Mexico, to reconsider their plans to reopen.
