The new COVID-19 restrictions will hurt more than just your weekend plans; they’re also damaging a business sector that has taken the brunt of the economic hit during the pandemic.
Normally, last call at bars is 1 a.m. but because of the state mandated restrictions put in place this week, bars are now losing 3 hours of service through Nov. 23.
The Downstairs, a bar on Park City’s Main Street, opens every night at 9 and under Governor Gary Herbert’s new COVID-19 health orders, they have to stop serving alcohol an hour later. Brian Anderson is a general manager at the bar. He said because they’d only be able to stay open for an hour each night, they’ve decided to close their doors for the next two weeks.
These new health orders come after a year where bars and restaurants have already been hit hard, according to Executive Director Of The Historic Park City Alliance, Allison Kuhlow:
“When everyone closed on March 15, through now, the bars are the heaviest hit industry purely because of how they operate, you know, it's social, we want to have a good time,” Kuhlow said. “And so the biggest restrictions have come down on bars and restaurants as well.”
But she said if everyone complies to the new restrictions it should help businesses in the long run.
“Everyone's just saying, you know, fingers crossed that this only lasts two weeks if we can all abide by this,” she said. “If this truly can bring the numbers down, then that helps our winter season. If we don't abide by this, and then the measures get more drastic, that's only going to hurt us.”
Cortney Johanson owns the Spur on Main Street. She said there’s one silver lining to the new restrictions taking place right now.
“To be really honest, if this was going to happen, this is the best two weeks of the year for it to happen,” Johanson said. “So I had been anticipating for a couple weeks that we were going to get maybe even something more severe than this, like a total shutdown again. I was hoping that it would come through for these two weeks, just so we could get before the holidays before the ski resorts open.”
But even though it couldn’t have come at a better time, she said it’s still going to hurt on the weekends. And looking ahead she’s worried about what will happen if the restrictions are extended past two weeks.
“If this were to extend, let's say, you know, through the season, obviously, I mean, that would be detrimental,” she said. “I mean, I don't know that we would recover.”
Along with bars closing at 10 p.m. new health orders require masks in all businesses indefinitely and all social gatherings are restricted to the same household until Nov. 23.
