SAN ANTONIO – More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, Bexar County restaurants and bars are finally starting to see more of the hustle and bustle they were used to seeing. However, many didn’t survive this year full of spiking cases and deaths, emergency orders and closures.
On March 18, 2020, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg issued an emergency declaration that ordered bars and restaurant dining rooms to close. It was also the first time Texans were allowed to order alcohol to be delivered with food.
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The closures brought uncertainty to San Antonians working in these establishments, many of which relied on these jobs as their primary income source.
Gov. Greg Abbott had issued a statewide public health emergency the day after Nirenberg’s was announced. The order closed all restaurant dining rooms and gyms and banned social gatherings of 10 people or more, putting even more Texans temporarily or permanently out of a job.
Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff issued their “Stay Home, Work Safe” orders by March 23, 2020, effectively closing all non-essential businesses.
By early May 2020, Abbott allowed all retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls to reopen, but bars, gyms, hair salons and barbershops were still not allowed to operate at that time.
Bar owners struggled hard throughout May, many going more than 50 days or longer without any revenue at this time.
“We’re seeing places that have operated for decades close. We’re seeing small businesses going into a record amount of debt trying to stay open,” Jody Newman, who owns The Friendly Spot in King William, told KSAT on May 15.
Bars, bowling alleys, bingo halls, skating rinks and rodeos were once again allowed to reopen on May 22.
However, with skyrocketing cases over the summer, bars and establishments whose receipts consisted of 51% or more alcohol sales were ordered to close on June 26. They were allowed to remain open for delivery and takeout only. Abbott told a TV station that same day that he regretted allowing bars to reopen too soon.
“If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars, now seeing in the aftermath of how quickly the coronavirus spread in the bar setting,” Abbott told KVIA in El Paso on June 26.
By July, Abbott and Wolff had announced he had no plans to close down the economies of Texas and Bexar County despite the COVID-19 case surge.
By August, many bars began to reopen as restaurants under new Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission rules.
Abbott announced on Oct. 7 that he would allow bars that weren’t reopened as restaurants to open at 50% capacity by Oct. 14 if county judges opted in if COVID-19 hospitalizations were less than 15% of local hospital capacity.
Wolff didn’t allow Bexar County bars to open until he consulted with the TABC and the COVID-19 task force. He announced on Oct. 14 that he would allow them to reopen after all, but the reopenings needed to be approved by the TABC.
Wolff threatened to shut down bars again by mid-November if the COVID-19 hospitalization threshold were to be surpassed.
On Dec. 8, he issued a new executive order that ordered bars to close by 11 p.m. on Dec. 10 until further notice. The new order affected all bars and establishments that did not convert to restaurants.
By year’s end, twelve counties located in Trauma Service Area P, including Bexar and Comal counties, had to cut restaurant capacity from 75% to 50% under Abbott’s order. Bars were also forced to close in those areas.
Bexar County bars and restaurants saw a 46% decrease in alcohol sales between January and October of 2020 compared to 2019, according to data from the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
After several months of closures, reopenings and changes to capacity limits at restaurants and bars, Gov. Abbott announced all Texas businesses could once again reopen at 100% by March 10, 2021, and that the mask mandate was lifted.
“Too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities,” Abbott said on March 2, 2021, at an event in Lubbock. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills. This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100%.”
