ARLINGTON (1080 KRLD) - Arlington is holding an emergency meeting Wednesday to close bars and restaurants to slow the spread of coronavirus. Arlington is joining other cities in North Texas, including Dallas and Fort Worth, in restricting crowd sizes.
"It is so hard to have to close our restaurants, but we literally need to do that," says Mayor Jeff Williams.
Williams says he understands how much Arlington depends on tourism, and how many jobs are connected to restaurants and hospitality.
"It's interesting: the Metroplex as a whole has more people who eat out per capita than just about any metropolitan area of the country," he says.
Like other cities that have ordered restaurants to close, Williams says the order in Arlington will only affect dine-in areas. He says drive-thrus and carry-out will still be available, encouraging people to use carry-out at their favorite restaurant to help keep people employed.
"Our people are very generous, and we're going to have to help others," he says.
Williams says city staff will go to restaurants to give instructions on how they can operate. He says they will also be available to answer questions.
Williams says restaurants have been supportive of measures taken so far. Many are already limiting large crowds and have put up signs on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"It has been awesome the cooperation we've gotten from our businesses," Williams says.
While businesses have closed or restricted access, Williams urges people to keep following the advice of medical professionals.
"We've got to have the realization that we're in a fight, a different kind of fight, a fight against your own habits of shaking hands, and being together, and then even the habits of thinking we know better," he says. "We've got to follow the people who've literally spent decades of their lives studying the medical profession. We're not all experts in that field.
"The other part that is so hard, too, is to not spend all our time talking and watching about the virus itself. We've got to be productive in order to provide for our families. We're having to fight against the distraction of the virus," Williams says.