San Antonio, Bexar County issue curfew order beginning Thanksgiving night
BEXAR COUNTY (KTSA News) — The City of San Antonio and Bexar County are issuing a curfew Thanksgiving weekend in what it called an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus in the county.
Both governments announced that they have amended their public health orders to impose a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Thanksgiving night through Monday morning.
The curfew bars people from gathering outside their households during these hours, unless they are seeking services from a business. Violators can face a fine of up to $1,000.
Restaurants will be required to close between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. during the same time period. Restaurants may continue to offer drive-thru, curbside, or takeout services during the curfew hours.
“As Bexar County continues to see higher numbers of daily positive cases and with Thanksgiving coming up, we need take steps to address this head on,” said Judge Wolff in a statement. “This curfew isn’t about specific places, it is about people’s behaviors. We know that household gatherings are taking place. We know that as it gets later into the evening, people’s behaviors change. They let their guard down, they take their masks off, they get a little closer than they should. This is when the virus passes from one to another. This limited curfew is aimed to help reduce the impact on our hospital system. We encourage everyone to play it safe this holiday weekend and don’t let your guard down.”
“The last two surges in cases followed holiday weekends; in this case, the numbers are already increasing exponentially, so the Judge and I decided to impose a curfew to limit the spread over the Thanksgiving holiday,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “We are counting on each and every San Antonian to take personal responsibility for protecting themselves and others.”
The last two surges — the one during the summer and the current one — occurred after the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Halloween holidays, but public officials noted in September that there did not seem to be a surge after the Labor Day holiday weekend.
