Many of the people being infected at bars and clubs are in their 20s, a group that is more likely to have milder cases of Covid-19. Health experts warn that young people with mild symptoms or none at all still pose a serious threat to older family members or other vulnerable people.
In the hot spot traced to Harper’s in East Lansing, contact tracing has shown that the young adults who were infected spread the virus to people from 16 to 63 years old, health officials said. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York cited the Harper’s cluster as a reason to re-examine the city’s indoor dining reopening rules for restaurants. Harper’s has been shut down until it can provide a plan to address its failures to enforce mask wearing and social distancing, said Linda Vail, an Ingham County health officer.
Bartenders say they have no good options: Stay closed and go bankrupt, or reopen and trip on shifting standards for how to operate during a pandemic.
When the Knight’s Pub in Orlando, Fla., reopened in early June, it did so with a jubilant Facebook post: “We’re back, baby!” Four days later, the bar was closed after a patron phoned to report a possible case of the coronavirus.
Florida officials eventually suspended the bar’s liquor license and said it was part of a cluster that had contributed to the coronavirus cases of at least 13 employees and 28 patrons. At a news conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, singled out the bar as an example of a place “that was having really big parties, that was just not following the guidelines.”
As part of their evidence, state officials cited two promotional photos of happy patrons holding drinks and crowded together inside the bar. But both photos were taken in 2019, according to Michael D’Esposito, the bar’s owner, who contends the state has used the Knights Pub as a “scapegoat for all Covid-19 cases in the surrounding Orlando area.”
Robel Berhane, 30, was there for happy hour the first day the Knight’s Pub reopened, soaking up a social life he had been missing. He also had a mission: to check out the scene for guidance on how he should go about reopening the bar he manages across town.