There's been a lot of dispute about whether it's too soon or not to start heading back to bars and restaurants. While some people are more than ready to get back to socializing and visiting local businesses, others are worried about a spike in the spread of COVID-19. But either way, in most places around the country, things are beginning to open for business, and it's up to consumers to decide what they feel is safe.
If there's one person who would definitely argue that it's too soon, it's Erika Crisp — a health care worker who went to a reopened bar and contracted the coronavirus, along with the entire group she was out with. The 40-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, resident is a care management assistant at a medical center. She says that after months of following all the rules, she decided to go to Lynch's Irish Pub with her friends on June 6, just after it had reopened.
Now she's seriously regretting that decision.
Erika says that she and every single one of the 15 friends she was out with that night got sick. The only thing they had in common was meeting up at that one bar. Current recommendations about socializing during the pandemic advise people to stick to small groups. So, while meeting up with 15 friends is definitely a bit riskier than heading out with one or two friends, it's still pretty telling that every single member of the group came down with the illness.
After the bar owner learned about the cases, he quickly shut the doors of the bar once again and opted to have every one of the staff members tested. Out of the 49 employees who got tested, seven came back positive. Those workers are now in isolation while they recover.
The bar has now been completely sanitized, and the general manager, Keith Doherty, says that when they do reopen once again, they'll take better precautions. "We can't guarantee that people aren't going to get sick because of the nature of this virus, but we're going to keep on top of what we can do to prevent things," he said. Keith also said that once the bar reopens, there will be multiple hand sanitizing stations.
As for Erika, she feels it's much too early for bars and restaurants to be opening at all. And why wouldn't she after her ordeal? She'd been staying home and practicing social distancing, only to get sick the first time she went out with friends.
"I think we were careless, and we went out into a public place when we should not have," she said. "And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality." She added that once everything opened back up, she and her friends "took advantage of that" without really thinking it through.
While going out that night might have been a lapse in judgment, Erika is opening up about her experience and what she feels was a mistake. Plenty of people have been heading back out to bars and restaurants under the assumption that if it wasn't safe, then they wouldn't be open again. However, that's not exactly the case.
In this very rare and rather confusing situation, health officials still advise people to be vigilant about the choices they're making. Just because bars, restaurants, and shops are open, that doesn't mean that we aren't taking a risk by heading back out. In the case that we do venture out, we still need to be careful. That means sticking to small groups, wearing masks, and maintaining a safe distance from others.
Along with Lynch's, other surrounding bars closed their doors once again, too, after the outbreak. They're all set to reopen again today, however. While hopefully precautions will be taken, the numbers have been rising once again in Florida.
The state is now seeing some of its highest numbers of the entire pandemic. On June 13 alone, there were 2,581 new cases. Regardless of things being open, that should definitely set off some alarm bells for those thinking about heading out or perhaps even heading to Florida for a vacation.
As for Erika, she says she's learned her lesson. Still, she believes that perhaps they shouldn't have had the option to head out so soon, too. "We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing," she said. "It was too soon to open everything back up."
