SAN MARCOS, Texas – Almost 20 businesses in San Marcos have closed their doors temporarily to allow for proper cleaning and sanitation of facilities between identified lab-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19.
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According to county officials, when someone tests positive for the virus, they are first contacted by the county health department, which collects information from them, such as their type of employment.
According to the City of San Marcos’ Emergency Management Coordinator Rachel Ingle, the patient who tests positive chooses to inform their employer and the owner may then decide to close the business.
“The place of business chooses to close down at the owner’s discretion for cleaning and things like that,” Ingle said. "So, they make those decisions. We as the city do not make any of those mandates. That would have to come from the county health department, and they have said that they are not going to do anything like that.”
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Ingle said the county tracks information from individuals with a confirmed positive test and not necessarily the businesses that may have been affected.
According to Ingle, the city cannot do anything if a business chooses to open, even shortly following a confirmed positive case in their establishment, city authorities will not issue citations to businesses that remain open.
“We’re not giving citations," Ingle said. "A lot of times you will get compliance from folks just from talking to them more than you will by issuing citations and things like that, and in San Marcos we have always been very good about that...we ask for compliance nine times out of 10 instead of demanding it, because the community is very receptive of that.”
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If a bar or restaurant, or any other business, is reported to be operating past the allotted capacity, city officials would then intervene.
“We are not able to enforce anything that is more strict or stringent than what the governor has put out in his order or plans to reopen Texas," Ingle said. "We as a government have to go by the rules that he sets for us. We cannot force folks to wear face coverings out in public or use hand sanitizer and things like that, those are not things that we are permitted to enforce.”
Ingle said that the city will provide guidance for how businesses should respond to an employee testing positive for COVID-19 and that those guidelines also include proper cleaning and sanitization standards. However, guidance on an infected employee, monitoring an employee’s symptoms, documenting entrance to the establishment or requiring employees who tested positive to not return to work will not be provided by the city or county.
“That guidance comes from the county health department, Department of State Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control,” Ingle said.
Hays County Chief of Staff Alex Villalobos said that county authorities have not forced any businesses to shut down due to a confirmed positive case, instead, businesses have more often than not voluntarily shut down.
“We haven’t forced any businesses to shut down in Hays County. Typically it has been that they have voluntarily shutdown based on making sure that they are taking care of their employees, following best standards of sanitization and making sure that they are mitigating infection to other people.”
Villalobos said that the county has prepared for case spikes and continues to operate based on directives from the state.
“We’re responding to what the directions have been coming down from the state level, we anticipated, as we continued to open up at the direction of the state, that we were going to have an increase in infections.”
The following is a list of businesses that have closed in San Marcos as response to either a confirmed positive case or a precautionary measure for staff and patrons as of June 13:
- Stonewall Warehouse, 141 E Hopkins St, June 13
- Whataburger #178, 1004 State Hwy 123, June 12
- Grin’s Restaurant, 802 N LBJ Dr, June 10
- The Marc, 120 E San Antonio St, June 9
- CRAFThouse Kitchen and Tap, 242 N LBJ Dr, June 9
- Stellar Coffee, 232 N LBJ Dr, June 9
- Pure Barre, 200 Springtown Way, June 9
- Mochas and Javas, 102 Wonder World Dr, June 9
- Kobe Steak House, 210 Springtown Way, June 9
- Texas State Tubes, 2024 N Old Bastrop Hwy, June 9
- Plucker’s Wing Bar, 105 N Interstate 35, June 9
- The Taproom and Porch, 129 E Hopkins St, June 9
- Louie’s Oyster House & Beer Garden,119 E Hutchison St, June 8
- Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, 999 E Basse Rd, June 6
- Fuego Tortilla Grill, 913 N Interstate 35, May 24