CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In a mid-day news conference, Texas Governor Greg Abbott didn't mince words by calling out bars as spreaders.
"Bars are nationally recognized as COVID spreading," Gov. Abbott said. "They are not allowed to open at this time."
With a new exemption now in place, many of these bars have found a way to reopen and still be in compliance with a Food and Beverage Certificate.
Legal Assistant Bonnie Collier works for the Lazarte Law Firm. For the last month, she's been busy getting local bars back up and running with an FB Certificate.
"Helping them file the complicated paperwork that -- if approved -- will classify them as not just bars, but restaurants," Collier said.
"I've already had seven of them approved. I have four of them waiting on a letter of authority. That's the letter that will open them up. And I have five that are sitting with TABC, but they've not been assigned to a licensing agent as of yet."
Some Corpus Christi bars have simply shuddered their doors and closed up, laying off hundreds of employees and stopping the flow of income, as well as tax revenue to the city and state.
"Sounds like it's unfair for bars," Dr. Jim Lee, an Economics Professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. "I'm sure most bars in the area would say this is unfair for us."
Dr. Lee is preparing to release a study on how our Coastal Bend economy has weathered the pandemic over the last few months. He said when it comes to the impact on bars specifically, they've been seriously affected.
The FB Certification could be a saving grace for bars who have been among the worst hit businesses.
"It's a good move for those bars that have been able to do that and I'm very happy for that," Dr. Lee said.
On the other end of spectrum, public health care experts believe bars should hold out longer before opening back up.
"Because we know from the last time when the bars were open, you know we had a lot of COVID-19 cases coming from the bars," Health Director Annette Rodriguez said. "Hearing the governor say that the bars were not going to be reopened at this time was a relief to public health."