I understand that everyone is doing the best they can with COVID, but this new decree is going to destroy service industry workers' lives and also have the exact opposite effect of what you are hoping it will, and here is why:

As someone that has worked in bars for almost two decades, I can tell you that drinkers will find a way to drink regardless of what kinds of limitations you try to put on them. We tried this about a century ago under different circumstances and called it Prohibition -- it didn't work out very well and ultimately caused more harm than good ... the same thing is happening now. And this will not work either and here is a list of reasons why:

 

1 - The virus is not nocturnal!  It doesn't wake up at 10 pm and go hunting in the night like a vampire. The time people are out and about is NOT the problem. People are the problem.

 

2 - Trying to stop the service of alcohol in supervised locations like bars and restaurants are not going to deter people, who are naturally social creatures, from seeking out one another.

But now, they will be forced to go to unsupervised house parties where no one is keeping eyes on them, no one is cleaning or disinfecting after every drink or meal, no one is enforcing mask wearing, no one is social distancing and no one is making sure that these people not only don't spread the virus, but also don't drink too much and cause more damage to themselves or others far beyond what a virus might or might not do.

 

3 - Even those that do abide by the 10 pm curfew will now just come out earlier, and thus you will have a more concentrated amount of people in a shorter amount of time, b/c again, people that want to drink are going to no matter what you tell them. So higher concentrations of the same people that would be spread out throughout the entire day and night will irrevocably lead to more contact and more transmission.

 

4 - If the goal is to limit the amount of people coming into contact with one another, I’m fairly certain more people are out and about from 9am-5pm than there are from 5pm-2am. So if the goal is to cut back interactions, why not try it during the day when most people are going about their normal tasks. Nighttime will certainly deter many of them from doing useless errands ‘just to leave the house’ after working from home all day.

 

5 - Telling bars they can operate outside under tents, with heaters is just bringing inside outside! What is the difference? Why not mandate that indoors needs to have a high flow air circulation system? An HVAC system would cost less than the thousands of dollars it costs to rent a giant tent, or several small tents for months on end. The notion that having essentially a indoor bar outdoors is simply obtuse.

 

Bars are not the problem, people are the problem. And people are going to do what they want regardless of what makeshift rules might be in place. Beyond that, you are essentially punishing an entire industry a month before the holidays, ruining countless lives, and forcing people into far more difficult lives than just having a bad flu for a few days.

 

I will take a bad flu any day of the week if it means i will be able to pay my mortgage on time and not have my house taken back by the bank, or if it means I can buy my children Christmas presents and not have to explain that dad doesn’t have any money b/c the government thinks his job is causing covid.

 

I understand that everyone is doing their best in this unprecedented situation but you must understand that with no additional stimulus, thousands upon thousands of bar and restaurant workers lives are in danger of being completely ruined b/c of this rule. Please reconsider this decision, and fast, because we all have mortgages, and holiday gifts to pay for and now thousands of us are not going to be able to do that if this doesn’t change immediately.

 

I doubt you will every actually read this, and I doubt even further I will get an actual response, but just know that this is not a viable answer to the spiking, and it is only going to make things worse.

Thank you for your time,

Lou Ruggieri