AUSTIN, Texas — More than two dozen Austin bars have been cited for COVID-19 violations, according to a City list obtained by KVUE.
The 25 bars on the list provided by the City, which are mostly located downtown, are:
- Concrete Cowboy
- Play 620
- Rio
- Unbarlievable
- Wyld
- Burnsides
- Dijou
- Library
- Lit Lounge
- Lodge
- Pour Choices
- Recess
- Soho
- Venue
- Voodoo
- 512 club
- 4th and Co.
- Reina 78
- Scratchouse
- Dirty Bills
- Yellow Jacket
- 77 Deg./Rose Room
- Corona Club
- Mala Vida
- Chupacabra
Escott told county commissioners Tuesday that an establishment must ignore several warnings before they are cited by fire marshals or code enforcement. He presented a list of the cited establishments to commissioners, highlighting several “repeat offenders.”
Four of the 25 bars listed have been cited more than once by the City fire marshal: Concrete Cowboy (2), Play (3), Soho (3) and Venue (2).
More than half of the bars on the City's list are located somewhere on Sixth Street.
Health officials said in a Dec. 23 press conference that they were concerned about the loophole for bars to operate as restaurants. They said bars need to follow the rules in order to avoid imposing a curfew, which Mayor Adler said would be considered if it's needed to keep the city safe.
"They may have a food service permit, but they are still functionally a bar," Escott said.
Escott said the concern with bars is that drinking is a mask-less activity and happens continuously. He said the nature of bars means that face-to-face interactions happen for an extended period of time and with multiple different people.
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