Many bars in North Carolina continue to remain closed as the state advances COVID-19 reopening plans. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
Many bars in North Carolina continue to remain closed as the state advances COVID-19 reopening plans. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
As North Carolina enters Phase 3 in the COVID-19 reopening process, movie theaters and other businesses are being allowed to reopen, although at limited capacity.
However, one sector that has fought to rejoin the economy, bars, will remain closed.
"Once again we asked the governor to throw us a life raft and he threw us a rubber chicken," Zack Medford, president of the NC Bar and Tavern Association, said, ABC 11 reported on Oct. 1.
He called Gov. Roy Cooper's bar guidelines "pointless" and "a slap in the face," ABC 11 reported.
Most bars don't have enough outdoor space to accommodate enough customers to make ends meet, ABC 11 reported.
"A bar with an outdoor patio the size of a tennis court could have 15 customers in it," Medford said, ABC 11 reported. "It doesn't make financial sense for a bar to reopen when the most we can serve is 15 or 20 people."
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