Bars Refuse To Close: More Businesses Ignore Lockdown As COVID Cases Rise

A bar owner in Minnesota said remaining open in defiance of lockdown orders is about staying in business. It's just one of many trying to stay afloat as the economic destruction from the pandemic rages on.

Lisa Monet Zarza, the co-owner of the Alibi Drinkery in the suburbs of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, told The Washington Post on Friday she was staying open in defiance of state restrictions on indoor dining. She was sued earlier this week by the state attorney general for breaking the rules.

Hers is just one of many bars and restaurants in Minnesota that banded together in the ReOpen Minnesota Coalition to make their case to state legislators.

Zarza said she recognizes the severity of the pandemic, but stressed, “We need to open,” WCCO, a CBS affiliate, quoted her as saying. Zarza said she previously opened for take-out only, but the revenue “wasn’t worth it.”

Minnesota is seeking $25,000 in civil penalties for each violation of the state orders.

In early December, the issue boiled over to public protests on New York’s Staten Island over the closure of the popular Mac’s Public House. Hundreds of people showed up in front of the bar, – many maskless and packed shoulder-to-shoulder – one day after city officials closed the bar for violating restrictions in place to control the pandemic.

State Sen. Andrew Lanza, a Republican who was himself almost arrested for trying to enter the bar, complained the restrictions were excessive. People can get arrested for looting businesses, he said at the time, “But when the government loots his business, the owner is arrested.”

Protests against social restrictions are not isolated to New York. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, faced articles of impeachment filed by state members of his own party for his efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in his state.

And after spending an estimated $10,000 on air purifiers and seating dividers to keep operations safe, Mike Coughlin, the owner of the popular Village Tavern and Grill in the suburbs west of Chicago, said in November he would openly defy state orders to stay open, legal consequences or not.

“You pay my bills, you pay my taxes, you pay my employees, and I’ll close,” he was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying.

The situation is similar across the country.

“All of our servers, bartenders, support staff and cooks … we had to lay off,” Amanda Zilke, a manager at the Rockwell Republic bar in Grand Rapids, MI., was quoted by NBC affiliate WOOD TV 8 as saying.

State lawmakers enacted restrictions on dining in particular, according to federal guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put on-site dining with no social restrictions in the highest risk category for contracting COVID-19. The lowest risk for eating out is from drive-through, delivery or take-out.

Bars may be eligible for loans under the Payment Protection Program, part of a $2.2 trillion stimulus passed in March. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working still on a replacement measure.