With Washington silent, states are torn between saving bars and stopping coronavirus
With America struggling to get the coronavirus under control and Washington deadlocked over new relief measures, states face a difficult choice: open the businesses most likely to spread the coronavirus, especially bars and restaurants, or keep them closed and risk a wave of bankruptcies.
Public health officials, including
Drs. Anthony Fauci and
Deborah Birx, have blamed indoor dining, drinking and social events for seeding summer outbreaks. Because the virus is transmitted mainly by airborne droplets, places like bars — where people may be packed closely together, speaking loudly and often feeling less inhibited — are at
particular risk of spreading infection.
Arizona, which had a big spike in the number of infections this summer, shuttered bars and nightclubs in June, a move
credited, along with increased mask usage, with helping bring things back under control. In late August, Iowa partly closed down
bars in six counties in response to a major spike in the number of cases among young adults.
Many public health experts have called for continuing restrictions on bars, indoor dining, gyms, theaters and other enclosed spaces — either by closing them or by sharply limiting attendance — to further curb the rate of infection and to prioritize reopening K-12 schools. But doing so could drive thousands of such establishments out of business for good.