Bars can reopen at 50%, Tarrant County judge says while chastising ‘bad actors’
Tarrant County bars can reopen at half capacity starting Wednesday, Judge Glen Whitley said Monday while threatening to shut down establishments that “blatantly disregard” coronavirus guidelines.
The announcement comes after videos from Fort Worth’s popular West 7th entertainment district showed massive, mask-less crowds in clubs that had reopened with a restaurant license. Gov. Greg Abbott said last week that bars could open across the state on Wednesday at 50% capacity at each county’s discretion. With many bars already open as restaurants, Whitley said it made sense to reopen all of them while cracking down on “bad actors.”
“If they can’t abide by the rules, they need to go ahead and close down,” he said.
Whitley called out certain bars that did not appear to be following COVID-19 restrictions, referring to public Snapchat videos from the Crockett Row area of West 7th. He said he would ask the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to suspend liquor licenses for venues that ignored capacity restrictions or mask mandates.
He said he planned to meet with a group of bar owners in the Magnolia Avenue area later in the day Monday and had already spoken to a few.
“Very honestly, if I could, I would pull and suspend the license from a couple of those places today,” he said. “And I assure you, I am working on that. If I can get it done, their licenses will be suspended either today or in the very near future.”
Many bars used a “loophole” in Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission restrictions that allowed bars to reopen as restaurants if the business’ expected alcohol sales were less than 50% of total revenue, Whitley said.
Whitley’s threat marked an escalation for public officials in Tarrant County.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, county and city of Fort Worth officials have pushed education and warnings over citations. But Whitley said Wednesday it was time to escalate enforcement for “bad apples” past warnings to fines.
In most cases, it will be up to city code compliance, police or fire departments to inspect and enforce guidelines. Fort Worth’s code compliance office did not immediately return a request for comment.
At a media briefing, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price urged people who go to bars to be aware of the possibility that they could spread coronavirus to family members while noting that the bar-age crowd, those in their mid-20s to mid-30s, have not made up a large number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
“As we get into this new normal, there’s a whole lot of personal responsibility that has to come into play here,” Price said.
Whitley said the decision to reopen bars was one of the hardest he’s made since the start of the pandemic. It came down to balancing the public health with economic health. He consulted with hospital executives, who he said assured him available bed capacity remained high.
Coronavirus hospitalizations in Tarrant County are up to 11% of occupied beds and about 8% of total beds as of Monday, the highest rates since Aug. 16, according to county data. Counties where COVID-19 patients occupy more than 15% of total hospital beds must keep bars closed, while other counties can choose to open them, according to Abbott’s order.
Dallas County will keep bars closed, while Collin and Denton Counties will open bars, their county judges announced.
Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes, who also attended the briefing, said he supported continuing to reopen the economy, but with caution.
“This is not business as usual,” he said. “There are restrictions that have to be followed and if they’re not followed, we’re going to be back where we were.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 3:39 PM.
