Bars in Bexar County could reopen by Thursday

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff is signing off on plans to reopen bars as early as Thursday.   Now it’s up to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Wolff met Monday with a TABC representative  to go over the COVID-19 mandates, which include social distancing, masks and 50 percent occupancy.

“I wanted to make sure that I did this right,” Wolff said at Monday night’s COVID-19 briefing. “It’s important to remember also that if things really do turn bad for us or go the other way, I have the right to opt out of it, so we made that clear.”

He said only 10 bars had contacted his office to say they were planning to reopen.  Most of them are small establishments, including some wine-tasting businesses.

“Many of them that have been closed all this time probably won’t be able to open financially,”said Wolff.

Last week, he said most of the 3,000 bars in Bexar County had already reopened after being reclassified as restaurants.

San Antonio Metro health reported 98 new coronavirus cases and two more deaths.  That brings the total number of infections since the pandemic began to 63,426.  The death toll is 1,230.

The positivity rate, the percentage of tests with positive results, held steady at 5.8 percent.  San Antonio Metro Health has set a goal of  5 percent or lower.